


Ben 10: Origins

by SunshineHeroSol



Series: Danger Watch Universe [4]
Category: Ben 10 Series, Steven Universe (Cartoon), a little TMNT
Genre: Adventure, Aliens, Alternate Universe, Book 4, Danger Watch, Danger Watch Universe, Road Trips, Robots, Shared Universe, ben 10 - Freeform, mcu - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:27:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 35,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27225013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunshineHeroSol/pseuds/SunshineHeroSol
Summary: School is out, and Ben Tennyson is looking forward to another long summer of sleeping in, reading comic books, and doing just about nothing. However, Grandpa Max has other plans. He, Ben, and Ben's cousin Gwen take a road trip across the country, and while at first he thinks it might be boring, Ben soon finds out he's in for the ride of his life. (Danger Watch: Phase 1, Book 4)
Series: Danger Watch Universe [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1755103
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:** _Hey guys! Welcome to a brand new story! This is an alternate take on the story of Ben 10, in a world where his universe is intertwined with that of many other heroes. While the story can be read on its own, it is also a part of a greater story, sort of like an MCU movie. More on all of that in my bio: enjoy the chapter!_

* * *

_**Phase One, Book Four** _

_**Ben 10: Origins** _

* * *

**Prologue**

_December, 1969_

As he opened the door to the roadside bar, brushing snowflakes off of his brown leather jacket, the young man took note of the loud rock music from a jukebox, along with the abundant crowd. The man was handsome, with a muscular upper body and a square jaw, but he was no showstopper, and luckily for him, this meant that he could sidle up to the bar top without drawing too much attention to himself. He sat next to a man who was wallowing in drink, with several empty glasses surrounding him, as it was the only spot he could find, and after a moment, the man flagged down the bartender.

"What can I getcha, sir?" She, a pretty blond, said. She was clearly running around a lot, and the man decided not to waste any time.

"I'm looking into some rumors in the area," he said. She quirked a brow. "You heard anything about an 8 foot tall squid man?"

The bartender frowned, a confused expression on her face, and then laughed and shook her head, playing along.

"Heh, no I can't say I have, sir," she said. "Anything to drink, though?"

The man grimaced, and nodded.

"A shotta whiskey," he said.

"I.D.?" The bartender asked. The young man grinned cheekily.

"What, you don't trust me?" He said. She gave him a chiding grin, and he laughed, producing his wallet and handing the card to her.

"Be right back with that, Max," she said, handing the card back and bouncing away.

As she walked off, leaving Max at the bar top, he turned, his back to the bar, and surveyed the room, nodding his head a bit to the song that played. It was one he was familiar with, and he began to mutter the lyrics as he looked at the townsfolk. They seemed to be the average bar goers, some of them with sports attire on. That's right, Max thought, it was game night. He hadn't watched a football game in years.

" _It ain't me… It ain't me… I ain't no fortunate one, no,_ " he sang under his breath.

"Hey," the man beside him said, startling Max slightly. He looked down to the disheveled looking man. He was of Asian descent, with pallid, greenish skin, greasy dark hair, and several layers of tattered clothes. He smelled rank. Max tried to give him a polite nod. "You lookin' for weird stuff?"

Max raised an eyebrow.

"Got somethin' you know?" He said, glancing once at the bartender, who was busy dealing with some college students at the far end of the bar. The stinking stranger chuckled to himself, swirling his umpteenth glass and shaking his head.

"Maybe," he said. "You gotta promise me somethin', though."

"Yeah? What's that?"

The man looked at him sidelong.

"Promise you ain't got a badge."

They both went silent, and the music continued to rage in the background. The silence began to last a little too long, as Max pondered what to say next. Luckily, he was saved by the bartender returning, and dropping a shot glass full of liquor down in front of the man in the leather jacket.

"Here you go, sorry it took so long," she said. "Anything else I can grab you? Kitchen's closing soon."

Max turned to give her a smile, but the stranger never took his eyes off of him.

"Actually, I think I'll tab out," he said. The woman nodded.

"Sure, I'll be right back with the check," she said, before disappearing again. Seconds lingered again as she left, until the rank man slammed his glass down suddenly. Max turned to him with furrowed brows.

"Something wrong, pal?" He asked.

The man laughed that wheezing, sickly laugh again, and it turned into a hacking cough part way through.

"It's just you never answered," he said, locking eyes with Max once more. The man's dark gaze sent a chill up Max's spine. "You a fed?"

Max took the shot, wiping his mouth and then turning to face the man with a cocky grin.

"I might be," he said. "Who's asking?"

There was a harsh scraping sound as the man pushed his stool back, standing up to face Max. Max was a tall, muscular, imposing person, and while the other man was nearly his height or taller (he stood stooped) he was gangly and thin beneath his bulky layers of clothing. Max took a defensive shift backwards as the man stood, which made it his turn to grin, with yellowed teeth.

"Name's Clancy," he said, "and you shoulda lied."

Then suddenly, there was a sound like a thousand buzzing flies, and the man's clothing exploded into a dark, flittering cloud. Max threw his arms up to shield his face, stumbling back as the crowd in the bar started to scream in panic and confusion. The cloud, Max quickly realized, was a huge swarm of dark green bugs, and they seemed to be forming a cyclone around the so-called Clancy. As they flew, the gangly man was holding his hand out, claw-like, and shifting his fingers every few moments as if he were controlling their flight.

Max gritted his teeth, reaching into his coat pocket and producing a walkie talkie and a sleek little chrome pistol. He pressed the button on the side of the walkie-talkie, and shouted over the sound of screams and the blasting rock and roll.

"Fenton. Billings. I could use some back-up in here," he called into the speaker. Then, shoving his way through the crowd, he flipped a table, finding shelter behind it, and began to plan his next move. Luckily for him, his back-up didn't take long. From the door behind him that he had come in burst two men. One of them was tall, wide, and sported a mullet. The second was more lithe and shorter, with a crew cut. Both wore partially armored uniforms, and both carried state-of-the-art government tech on their backs.

"Everyone, stay calm!" Billings, the shorter man, said to those who were paying attention to him.

"Diabolical! What kind of boogeyman do we have this time?" Chimed in Fenton.

Both of the new arrivals waded through the sea of fleeing civilians. They watched as one man, who wasn't fast enough, was suddenly engulfed by an entire swarm of the strange insects. Moments later, there was an acrid, burning smell, and they heard screams from inside of the swarm. Then, all too quickly, the screaming stopped, and a puddle of green goo was jettisoned onto the floor. Flinching, Fenton ducked down beside Max.

"Damnit, Tennyson, what did you say to it?" He said. Max looked at him reproachfully.

"I… may have told him I was a fed," he said.

"Why would you do that?" Said Phil incredulously. "Why would you do that?"

" _All three of you need to shut up and haul ass_ ," came a voice over Max's walkie-talkie. " _Those beetles are gonna have no trouble getting through your little barricade there_."

"Wakeman!" Max said, snatching up the communication device. "What's our exit?"

"They're beetles? I thought they were bees!" Fenton said, talking into the radio on his shoulder before suddenly drawing a hose from his strange mechanical backpack and activating it, absorbing a large cloud of incoming beetles as a vacuum does dust.

" _What gave you that impression?_ " Wakeman said over the comms. " _Do you see any pollination bristles? Or stingers?_ "

"Wakeman! Exit!" Max barked again.

" _These are important clarifying questions, Tennyson, if we're dealing with bees (or any sort of apidae for that matter) I need to know_ ," Wakeman said, with a hint of distraction and arrogance ni her voice. Then, a moment later: " _Employee door. Behind the bar. I'll pull the van around._ "

"Move move move!" Shouted Max.

The three men bolted, just as a gust of insects sheered through the wooden bar table like some cartoon. Billings looked back in horror as the buzzing cloud suddenly shifted course, and began to track behind them. He shuddered, and turned around, sprinting to the head of the pack and vaulting clean over the bar top in one go. He saw the bartender crouched behind it, and paused, as she reached up to grab his arm.

"Who are you guys? What's going on?" She asked.

"I'm not goin' to jail!" Clancy roared, turning towards the group behind the bar.

"Billings! Let's go!" Max said.

Without hesitation, Billings pulled on the arm of the woman that he already was in contact with, hauling her to her feet and ushering her out of the door with them. She screamed as the swarm of beetles chased after them, but Fenton stood at the door and, with his odd hose, sucked in the first wave that came after them. The others ran past him, towards the unmarked white van that was pulling into the back parking lot with a madcap at the helm. The wheels skidded and screeched on the pavement as the heavy vehicle drifted to a stop. The front window rolled down, and Wakeman, her blond bob-cut bouncing, leaned out from the driver's seat.

"Who the hell is she?" She asked, gesturing to the waitress.

"Had to get her out, no time!" Billings said.

"Yeah, hey, thanks for that, but WHO THE HELL-"

"Listen, lady, we're called Skyway Patrol. We deal with stuff like this, alright?" Wakeman cut her off mid outburst, and the terrified bartender shrunk back. The scientist in the driver's seat sighed, rubbing her face, and then tried again. "You're gonna be safe with us."

The bartender turned to Billings, who gave her a reassuring nod, and Wakeman got out of the van, carrying some kind of metal briefcase. She walked forward, her long, yellow coat blowing in the winter wind, and dropped the case beside the bartender.

"XJ-5, Sentinel Mode," she said.

The moment the command finished, the suitcase began to shift and change. One second, it was a metal box with a handle. The next, it had shifted and morphed into something like a mechanical canine, though it had no eyes to speak of. It gave a simulated, digital sounding bark, and Wakeman suddenly beamed from behind her reflective goggles. She reached down to pet her creation, and then pointed to the bartender. At the hand gesture, the XJ-5 moved to stand defensively in front of her. She looked to the blond woman.

"Full hand sign recognition. Neat, huh? Now he won't let anything bad happen to you," she said. The bartender looked down at the robotic dog skeptically. "Go on, pet him. He's like a guard dog."

"Freaky guard dog…" She said.

"Does anyone have any idea what we're dealing with here?" Fenton said. He was standing, hose at the ready, watching as Clancy slowly emerged from the back door of the bar, now a dozen meters away. He seemed to be keeping his swarm close now, forming a dark, shimmering barrier between himself and the team. Max reached into the back of the van and pulled out a weapon that, to the bartender, seemed like something out of Barbarella.

"Not sure, but do we really need to be flaunting _level 12 tech_ in front of civilians?" Max said.

"Calm down, stickler. I was just about to wipe her," Wakeman said.

The bartender looked to Wakeman in confusion.

"Wait. What?"

* * *

The bartender blinked. She was alone, standing at the bar, save for a couple of men sitting at the far end of the bar. She frowned, realizing she had forgotten what she was doing, and then swatted at a fly that buzzed past her face. Shaking her head with a sigh, she decided from then on to get a lot more sleep. No more daydreaming on the job. She stopped in with the two men at the bar. One was muscular and handsome, with a brown leather jacket, and the other was small and lithe, with a short buzz cut. They both seemed a bit sweaty, red in the face and out of breath. Clearly in need of a drink. They both smiled at her as she approached.

"Glad to see you're feeling better, miss," the smaller man said. "You looked pretty out of it for a second there."

The bartender blushed with embarrassment.

"Oh, I do apologize about that. I really just lost track of time… Can i get you boys anything?" She said, glancing at the clock. With a mental curse, she realized that they were about to close. She winced. "I got time for one drink each."

"Done deal. A tall, cold pint of your best, for both of us," the hunkier man said. The bartender smiled at him, and began to make small talk as she poured the drinks from the tap.

"So, what brings you boys to town?" She asked. As she came over with the two beers, the two men swapped glances, and then grinned in unison.

"We're plumbers."


	2. Chapter 01

**Author's Note:** _Hey again! Welcome to another chapter of Ben 10: Origins. Looks like we already have a lot of people tuning in, that's awesome! I'm glad to see so many people tagging along for the entire story of Danger Watch, and believe me when I say it will be totally worth it. If you've been reading for a while, or even if you're new around here, what do you think of the story? Have you spotted any of the Easter eggs and hidden clues to other cartoons throughout the series? Let me know in the Comments. Anyway, that was a long AN. Let's jump right in!_

* * *

**Chapter 01**

_June, Present Day_

Ben fidgeted in his seat as he watched the clock tick down. The final day of school had arrived, and he along with all of his classmates were anxious to get out of their seats and finally, finally, catch some sunshine. His homeroom teacher was keenly aware of this, and so had allowed the class the last few minutes of the structured day as free reading time. While the other middle schoolers chatted quietly or read, Ben was staring at the clock. He couldn't _wait_ to get out of there.

Unlike most of the other students at Bellwood Junior High, Ben was a below C average student. He didn't have a great attention span, and his natural rejection of authority as well as impulsive tendencies and overconfidence tended to get him into heaps of trouble. Because of that, he had built up a bit of a reputation as a "bad kid," to the point where his parents had to be called in to speak with the principle.

That had been last month.

Today, however, Ben's mind was far from the miserable bench outside of the school office. His thoughts were far and away from locker combinations, cafeteria food, and homework assignments. Ben was thinking of freedom and adventure: video games! Comic books! Sleeping until noon and then waking up to his mom's brunch.

Summer vacation, he thought. The dream. It was so close now. Only minutes away, and he would go rushing out of the doors, get in his mother's car, and drive to the games store like they always did at the end of the school year.

When the bell finally rang, Ben was the first kid out the door.

As Bellwood Junior High filtered out onto the playground, beside which was the pick-up area, they lounged around, enjoying the bittersweet goodbye that was the end of school. Many of them would stay in touch, of course, but some friendships were hard pressed to stick together outside of school, especially at the age of 12. Not wanting to say goodbye quite yet, the kids were sitting around, signing yearbooks, and eating snacks provided by the after-school caretakers.

But not Ben.

Ben dashed straight past the playground, straight past the other kids, and right to the parking lot, his backpack bouncing on his shoulders as he ran, the summer wind blowing his unkempt mop of brown hair out of his face. He was free! Finally! As he ran, he scoured the lot for signs of his mother's green sedan, but even as he searched and searched, he found no sign of it. Eventually, he stopped and frowned. His mother was never late. Where was she?

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a loud, novelty car horn.

Ben watched, in utter horror, as the biggest, ugliest, yellow-est R.V. he had ever seen rolled into view. It moved like some colossal whale through the sea of small cars, the top of the vehicle laden with what was clearly camping supplies. Tents, chairs, and various luggage could been seen bulging out of the bungee chords sustaining them. As the huge mobile home came to a whining, hissing stop, Ben realized, his stomach dropping, that it was coming to a halt directly in front of him. He glanced over to the other kids, embarrassed, as the door to the vehicle opened, and he was met with the cheerful, double-chinned, crows'-footed face of his one and only grandfather.

Grandpa Max.

Max was wearing a pillowy red Hawaiian shirt, with a fanny pack bridging the gap at his waist to a pair of cargo shorts. He had sunglasses perched on his forehead, and a big, white dollop of sunscreen on his nose, and he was smiling broadly at Ben.

"Surprise!" He said.

Ben just stood there, mouth agape, not wanting to acknowledge what was happening. Max chuckled.

"I know it's been a while, but don't ya recognize me? It's Grandpa Max!" He said.

Internally, Ben winced. As much as he was embarrassed by the vehicle (and Max's appearance), he knew that his grandpa was a sweet old man, and even he wasn't apathetic enough to simply give the cold shoulder to the man. He put on a false smile as he hitched up his backpack.

"O-Oh! Hey, Grandpa Max!" He said. "What, uh, what are you doin' here?"

The old man's smile widened.

"Surprise!" He reiterated. "I can't believe Sandra never spilled the beans. I guess Carl must be rubbing off on her."

As Max brought up his parents, Ben sighed. So they had been involved in this practical joke. Of course. Max went on to explain how they were going on a cross-country road trip, and how he had been planning the trip for months, and how both his parents and Gwen's had been involved in making sure neither of them had any idea. The mention of Gwen was what snapped Ben into attention again.

"Wait," he said, "did you say… _Gwen?"_

"Yup! She already on board! Gwen, come say hi to Ben," Max called back into the R.V.

"Why? Isn't he about to get on anyway?" Came a young girls voice.

Ben wrinkled up his nose in annoyance. He and his cousin, Gwen, were not on the best of terms. In the nicest way possible, he thought she was annoying, stuck-up, and bossy. Conversely, she never passed up an opportunity to remind him how gross, stupid, and annoying she found him. Despite that, they were of course family, and the same age at that, and were forced to hang out together at most of the Tennyson family functions. Grandpa Max took note of Ben's displeasure, and gave him a knowing look.

"C'mon, Ben," he said, trying to keep the cheery atmosphere. "Come aboard and say hello."

Ben, sighing inwardly, hitched up his backpack and climbed the set of steps that led into the R.V. As he did, Max unbuckled from the driver's seat and stood up to take the boy into a big, tight, bear hug. Ben struggled against the old man's embrace, turning a bit red. However, to his own surprise, the young boy actually _was_ happy to see his grandpa again… Even if the trip itself was looking abysmally bleak. As the old man set him down, Ben turned and found himself looking at Gwen.

Gwen was Ben's age, just about his height and build, with short cropped red hair, kept in line with a little cat hair clip. She had her knees pulled up to her chin, sitting in one of the booth-like chairs that were on either side of the main table of the R.V. In front of her on the table was a huge, brown leather-bound book. Its pages were worn and aged, and there were dozens of off-color notes and strange markers lining the side of the tome. Ben looked at the large book with a look that could only be described as betrayal, before speaking.

"You gotta be kidding me," he said, "you're doing homework on summer vacation?!"

"It's not homework," Gwen instantly corrected him, never looking up from her book. "I found it in the R.V. It's about monsters."

Ben raised an eyebrow.

"Wait, what? Monsters? Really?"

"Er, its just an old storybook I used to read," Max said somewhat hastily from the front of the R.V. He had donned a small pair of spectacles, and was trying to make sense of the instructions he had printed from MapQuest.

Ben's expression drooped once more.

"Oh."

"It's really cool. There's a whole chapter on unicorns and their habitats. What they eat, how they sleep, and even where to find them!" Gwen said.

Ben groaned. Unicorns, Gwen, books? It was a nightmare! He had waited all of this time to finally be free of the shackles of the classroom, only to jump out of the frying pan and into the fire of this cramped R.V. that smelled a bit too much like his grandfather's aftershave. He dropped his backpack haphazardly on the floor of the R.V., and with a huff, slumped down in the seat across the aisle from Gwen, crossing his arms. Gwen finally looked up from her book then, so make an annoyed face at him.

"What's _your_ problem?" She said. Ben rolled his eyes.

"I don't have a problem. Read your nerdy book," he said. Gwen scoffed.

"My book's nerdy? You read comic books," she said.

"Dude! Spider-Man isn't nerdy, he's cool!" Ben countered. "Grandpa, does Gwen have to come?"

"Now, now, Ben," Max called back. "I know you two have had your differences in the past, but you're family. That's important. We Tennyson's have to look out for each other. Now, buckle up your seatbelts! If we get going, we'll be able to get some good distance before we have to bed down tonight."

"Wait, we're leaving right now?" Ben asked. "What about my stuff? I gotta pack!"

"No need," Max said with a cheeky grin. "I already did that for you."

Gwen snickered as Ben took on a defeated look, buckling his seatbelt and slumping down as the clunky old R.V. began to pull out of the school parking lot, and his grandpa turned on the radio. There was an exclamation of joy from the front of the cab.

"Oh, you're in for a treat kids!" He called back. "I used to love this song! Its a classic!"

Then, Ben and Gwen suddenly covered their ears as Max cranked the music up loud, and old school rock music started to blare. The caravan took off onto the freeway, its rickety old wheels making unsettling noises that made Ben and Gwen stare wide eyed at each other, but soon the old machine found its stride, and they were cruising along the road as the sun turned the sky a brilliant orange, their grandpa singing at the top of his lungs at the wheel.

" _It ain't me! It ain't me! I ain't no fortunate son, no no no!"_

Ben slumped back even further, leaning his head against the window as he watched the familiar skyline of Bellwood fade into the distance.

It was going to be a long summer.


	3. Chapter 02

**Author's Note:** _Hey again, welcome to a late night update of Ben 10: Origins. I hope you're enjoying the story! Aside from big action sequences and character banter, my favorite thing to write is Easter eggs and foreshadowing. If things go as planned, reading through Danger Watch should feel like watching the MCU all the way through, with team-up events, sequels, and more all coming together to form a long-form story. it's a lofty goal, but I hope I can deliver! Not sure why I'm rambling on in the AN today, but I guess I wanted to give you guys some insight into the project and what to expect as you read on! If that gets you pumped up and excited, feel free to leave a Kudos, and bookmark the story or the series. Its really encouraging to see how many of you are becoming fans!_

_Phew, wow, anyway, that's enough out of me. Enjoy the chapter!_

* * *

**Chapter 02**

Over the course of the next three weeks, Ben, Gwen, and Max travelled to every single tiny town that boasted any sort of tourist trap within a 500 miles of the East coast. They visited giant rubber-band balls, concert venues, novelty joke shops, celebrity hometowns, carnivals, and more miniature Statues of Liberty than Ben could have possibly counted. The entire time, Max seemed to be having the most fun out of all of them, although there were certain times that Ben and even Gwen enjoyed themselves. Particularly at the carnivals, where Ben always had fun on the rollercoasters and Gwen enjoyed testing her skill with games of chance. She was quite lucky.

Whenever Gwen wasn't being forced into some kind of family activity by Max, she had her nose buried in the huge tome that he had given her. While at first he was glad that his granddaughter was enjoying herself, he started to seem a little concerned with her strange fixation on the old book. She would stay up late into the night, a flashlight skimming over the pages of the strangely notated book, her eyes glued to the words and images there. It was entirely handwritten, and according to what Gwen had rambled in Ben's ear, written like a journal of some kind, with entries on certain creatures taken down as if they were from first hand experiences. She found it entirely thrilling. One of the biggest mysteries was the cover of the book. Unlike a traditional storybook, it boasted no title or traditional illustration. Instead, there was only a golden handprint, with the the number 2 embossed in the center.

Her fascination with the book grew to such a point that she began to ask Max to factor certain locations into his course that were supposedly "magical hotspots." After the second or third time she had asked him to urgently take an detour so that they could spot a unicorn migration, he had sighed, and looked her firmly in the eye.

"Gwen," he had said, "those are just stories. Those monsters… They aren't real."

"But they could be!" Gwen had insisted. "The book is so detailed, Grandpa. Plus, you said it yourself, you don't remember where it came from. Maybe whoever wrote it had some real encounters with these creatures!"

Max's forehead had begun to sweat slightly. He sighed.

"I- Listen, if it'll get you to calm down about it, we can visit the Kenville History Museum," he'd said. "I hear its got all kinds of exhibits that were supposedly "magic" but got debunked. Does that sound like a deal?"

Gwen had seemed to grin with satisfaction.

"Deal!" She had said.

Now, as the R.V. pulled into the museum parking lot, Gwen was nearly on the edge of her seat, the big leather book under her arm as she watched the large building approach. Ben, however, sat glumly, arms crossed. The idea of going to a museum sounded an awful lot like a school field trip, and that was not his idea of fun. In fact, the better part of these last three weeks had been anything but fun, and as the trio walked across the parking lot to the entrance of the museum, he looked longingly to the game shop across the street. He could see the blinking lights of arcade boxes, along with signs that showed blown up versions of the latest comic book crazes. With a sad sigh, he turned away from the shop, and trudged into the museum behind Max and Gwen.

"Hey there! Welcome! Remember, try to stay at least 10 feet away from the exhibits at all times!" Said a painfully cheerful woman as they passed the front desk. They acknowledged her, and then Gwen suddenly gasped and took off down the hall, prompting Ben and Max to swap glances before going to catch up with her. Max noted Ben's poor attitude, and leaned over to whisper in his ear.

"Listen, Ben," he said, reaching into his pocket, "I know you're just about as tired of hearing about that old storybook as I am. Here."

There was a small jangling sound as Max deposited a handful of quarters into Ben's hand. The kid looked at his palm like he had won the lottery, and then glanced up at Max to confirm his suspicion. The old man smiled.

"Gwen and I will do our rounds. You go ahead to that game store across the street. See if you can beat any high scores," he said.

"Aw man," Ben said, "awesome! Thanks grandpa!"

He gave Max a quick hug, and before he could change his mind, went dashing back out of the entrance of the museum. Max stood up and called after him as he ran.

"I'll swing around and get you in an hour!" He said, hoping that the impulsive boy had heard him. Then, with a sigh, he turned around to go and find his other impulsive grandchild.

Luckily, Ben heard him, but excited as he was, he didn't acknowledge Max, or even turn back. He tore across the museum parking lot, provoking a honk from a sleek, black, unmarked car that was pulling in. Scrambling out of its way, Ben turned to look as the person in the passenger seat, a man wearing a strange mask, along with some kind of historical get-up, seemed to stare at him, before the dark, tinted window was quickly rolled up.

"Museum people are weird," Ben muttered, before jogging across the street.

There was a jingling sound as Ben opened the door to the hobby store, and he was met with the familiar smells of fresh comic books, sweaty teens, sweaty _adults,_ and cheesy snacks. It was just like home. The sounds of arcade action rung out in his ear, and he realized that the gaming selection was far more robust than he had been expecting. Ignoring the reproachful look from the acne-ridden older teen at the cash register, he walked past the first few aisles of merchandise to a secondary room. This second room had a cool, galaxy patterned carpet, dynamic lighting, and at least 10 different big, retro arcade boxes, all chiming and blinking and inviting Ben to play them. For a moment, he couldn't decide, there were so many options! He settled on a familiar classic: Mortal Kombat.

Plugging in a number of quarters that he felt was robbery, Ben grinned as he was brought to the game's main menu, and selected the campaign mode. The announcer gave a gregarious: " _Reptile!"_ as Ben chose his avatar, and then he began to hammer away on the buttons with youthful glee, watching pixelated blood and gore go splattering everywhere as he punched, kicked, and tongue-lashed through stage after stage. Eventually, one of his opponents proved too difficult, and with a frustrated slam of his fist, he was met with a morose: " _Game. Over."_

Ben glanced down at his handful of change, which was starting to look meager already. Times had changed since Grandpa Max had been to an arcade, he figured, and a couple bucks in quarters would only get him so far, it seemed. Not to mention, he had seen the prize station at the front of the store, and he wanted to get his hands on some tickets. There was a limited edition copy of a Spider-Man comic book collection up there. That could be the only reading material he would get his hands on for the rest of the summer. This was life or death.

Scouring the machines, row after row, Ben tried to find the game that would give him the most tickets for the least amount of coins, and eventually settled on a game that was essentially a giant roulette. Placing a coin in would drop a ball. The ball would bounce for a while on a rotating disc, full of holes with numbers assigned to them. The number on the hole the ball eventually settled in was the number of tickets you would score, with the smallest hole being covered in a sparkly foil and labeled 'Jackpot.' Rolling up his metaphorical sleeves and biting his tongue in concentration, Ben walked over to the game and inserted a coin. He watched with a sense of helplessness as the ball dropped, bounced twice, and then landed in one of the largest holes. 5 tickets came feeding out of the machine. Ben snatched them up, and then turned around to look hopefully at the Spider-Man comic.

It was 1,000 tickets.

Ben's heart sank. At this rate, he would never get enough tickets for the comic book, save by maybe landing on the jackpot every single time. Even then, he knew, the jackpots on these machines reset after each win, and would be miniscule if won over and over again. He groaned internally. This was just great. If Gwen had been here, he thought miserably, she would have gotten a jackpot on the first try. Stupid Gwen.

With a heavy sigh, Ben figured he would at least try. Maybe, just maybe, he would get a stroke of luck. He plugged in another quarter, and again watched with bated breath as the ball bounced around inside of the machine. This time, it rolled hair-raisingly close to the jackpot, before rolling past and dropping into a larger hole. 20 tickets came out. Again, Ben put in a quarter. 5 tickets. 10 tickets. 45 tickets! 5 tickets. It went on like this, until Ben realized with a sudden sadness, that he was almost out of coins. He looked down to the substantial number of tickets piled on the floor in front of him, and counted them up. Nearly 300 tickets all told. Not even a third of what he needed.

"Aw man! That sucks!" He said, leaning forward and putting his head against the glass with a dull _thunk._

"What sucks?"

Ben looked up. Leaning against the arcade machine next to his was a young boy around his sage, with long, messy, black hair, and punkish looking clothes, complete with grungy black sneakers and a raggedy black shirt with the sleeves cut off. He had deep bags under his eyes, and was looking at Ben with a combined look of curiosity and mirth. Ben gestured towards his tickets miserably.

"I wanted to win that limited edition Spider-Man, but… I blew it," he said.

The other kid raised an eyebrow, glancing over the pile of tickets and then back to Ben.

"How many you got?" He asked.

"300," Ben said. Then, he added sadly: "I need a thousand."

The kid regarded Ben and his plight for a moment, pushing off of the machine and uncrossing his arms as he walked forward a few steps. Ben looked at him curiously, unsure of his intentions.

"Well, I wouldn't waste any more quarters on that thing," the kid said.

As they stood there, sizing each other up, the clerk at the register called back into their section of the store.

"Hey, kid," he said, clearly directing his words to the dark-haired boy. "If you don't buy something in 30 seconds I'm gonna kick you out."

The boy turned to glare at the clerk, and Ben furrowed his brows as well.

"Just chill, man, I'm about to," the kid called back. This was clearly not the first interaction between these two that day.

"Yeah, right," the clerk said, sneering at him. "You don't even have any money. Street rat."

The kid's cheeks went red, and Ben could see him balling up his fists. The older teen was being a real jerk, Ben thought. He hated jerks like him. Standing up beside the new kid, Ben looked defiantly at the clerk.

"What do you mean?" He said, holding out the palm that held his last few coins. "He just gave me these four quarters."

The kid looked at Ben in confusion, but Ben just gave him a confident grin, and then cupped the coins in his hand, fingers downward, and held them out to the kid.

"Here. Take 'em," Ben said quietly. The kid did, and stared at his hands before looking back up at Ben. He looked at a loss for words. The sweet moment was broken up by the jarring voice of the older teen.

"Whatever. Hurry up and buy something. I don't care whose money you use," he said.

The kid and Ben both turned back to look at him in disgust, and then begrudgingly, as if he were pulling teeth, the grungy kid strode up to the counter, slamming down a chocolate bar, along with the coins, and glaring daggers across at the clerk. The older teen ignored the face he was receiving, swiping up the coins and depositing them in cash register before looking down at the kid with a shit-eating grin.

"Have a nice day," he said wickedly.

Ben watched as the dark haired boy physically restrained himself, his fists balled up and shaking. He watched him force himself to turn around, sucking in a deep breath and walking back over to Ben with the chocolate bar under threat of being squished entirely in his palm. Once he had made it back, he rubbed the back of his neck, and offered the chocolate to Ben.

"Uh, here," he said. "It was your money."

"Keep it," Ben said. "I'm about to get dragged into the middle of nowhere for a camping trip. My grandpa's gonna make me eat more s'mores than I'll know what to deal with."

The two of them laughed.

"Man, that sounds nice," the other kid said. "Hey, what's your name?"

"Ben. You?"

"I'm Kevin," the kid said, glancing over his shoulder as the teen at the counter plugged in his earbuds and began to scroll on his Blackberry. Seemingly satisfied, Kevin turned back to Ben. "Wanna see something cool?"

* * *

As they walked from display to display, Gwen was like a kid in a candy store. Her eyes flew across the descriptions of every so-called artifact, skimming over the folklore and alleged abilities that each one possessed. Then, she would ogle at the most recent treasure for a few moments, only to then bound to the next one. Grandpa Max was having a hard time keeping up, but he was glad his granddaughter had found something that she was passionate about. At one point, Gwen rounded a corner a bit too fast, prompting Max to walk forward at a bit of a brisk pace. As he was about to go around the same corner, he nearly bumped into a trio of men.

They were all clad in black suits, and they each wore a little brooch that had a unique coat of arms on it. The person in the front, for instance (a shrewish, mustached, dark haired man) had the crest of a bear and 2 swans. Something clanked as they stepped into view, and an old instinct forced Max's eyes to their hips. There, to his confusion, he saw three sheathed rapiers. Noting his confusion, one of the rear men spoke up.

"Pardon us. We are… enthusiasts," he said. This man sported a pencil thin goatee and bushy black brows.

All of them looked at Max, who stood stock still for a moment. A chill ran down his spine, as memories once distant began to swell in his subconscious. Then, shaking those thoughts from his mind, he offered them a kindly, grandfatherly smile.

"Oh, I see," he said, scratching the top of his head in an attempt to look witherly. "Explains those fancy swords then."

The lead man glanced quickly down to his waist, shifting ever-so slightly so that his hips angled the sword away from Max, and then looked back up to the old man, who was still holding that cheerful, idiotic smile. His lip curled faintly.

"Excuse us," is all he said. Then, he lead the way forward, and the men strode in single file past Max. The last one in the line, who had been silent for the duration of the encounter, left his lingering, ice-blue gaze on the old man as he walked off. Even after the trio had moved past Max, the man stared at the back of his billowing red shirt, squinting.

He had recognized his voice.

Breathing out a heavy sigh of relief once the men had gone, Max hurriedly walked around the corner, and another wave of relief washed over him as he spotted the well-kept red hair of Gwen, who was reading over yet another museum display. The old man walked over to her, she saw him coming a mile away, and placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him, and was suddenly taken aback by the solemn face he bore.

"What's wrong grandpa?" She asked.

"It's time to go," he said.

"What? But we just got here!"

"No buts, Gwendolyn," Max said. Then, realizing he was being a lot more stern than normal, relaxed a bit, and offered her a placating smile. "There's a great pizza place in town, and I don't wanna miss the lunch special."

Gwen sighed.

"Fine," she said, "but we have to get pineapple on the pizza."

* * *

Kevin walked over to the roulette machine that Ben had been using, and glanced once more over his shoulder, just to be sure. Then, apparently satisfied, he gave Ben a grin and put his hand against the side of the machine. He focused for a moment, and then there was a _snap!_ as a couple of blue sparks suddenly seemed to fly off of his fingertips, and into the machine. Ben's eyes widened. Then, the machine began to make a loud whirring noise, before suddenly spitting out tickets rapidly. Far more rapidly than it should have. After only a handful of seconds, there was suddenly an exorbitant amount of tickets piling up on the floor in front of them. Ben stood in shock, as the tickets suddenly stopped coming with a jerking noise.

The machine was empty.

Ben turned to Kevin.

"How did you do that?" He asked in awe. Kevin gave a lopsided smile.

"Just a little trick I can do…" he said.

Ben looked like he was about to pursue the question further, when there a familiar, novelty car horn sounded outside. His expression instantly drooped, and Kevin looked past his shoulder, squinting out of the front window to the rickety old mobile home that was pulling up.

"I'm… guessing that's your old geezer, huh?" The dark-haired boy said. Ben turned around, and then groaned.

"Yeah," he said. Kevin jutted his chin at the pile of tickets on the ground.

"I'd say that's enough for your comic book," he said, "wouldn't you?"

It turned out, it was enough for not only the comic book, but also a pair of cool bracelets, of which Ben gave one to Kevin. The boy looked at the bracelet, and then smiled at Ben, who smiled back.

"Oh, hey!" Ben said. "What's your phone number? Maybe we can meet up again some day."

Kevin suddenly looked a little off put.

"Oh, I uh…" He said. He was interrupted by another honk of the R.V. Ben made an annoyed look, and then gave Kevin a sad look.

"Dangit… I really gotta go," he said. "Stay cool, OK?"

Kevin grinned, and the two exchanged a fist bump.

"You too, man," said Kevin. Then, the bells on the front door jangled, and Kevin watched sadly as his new friend got into the R.V. and it drove away.

He wondered if they would ever meet again.


	4. Chapter 03

**Chapter 03**

It was only after the town of Kenville and its museum were distant memories in their rear-view mirrors that Grandpa Max seemed to return to his normal, cheery demeanor. Gwen wasn't sure what had caused his sudden onset, but she had enjoyed the pizza (and even moreso Ben's face when he had realized there was pineapple on it. She had specifically asked for it because she knew that he didn't like it.)

Now, a couple days after the museum, and Ben's encounter with Kevin, they were driving through dry, sparsely forested open terrain, and Max seemed to have a glint in his eyes at the helm of the vehicle. Neither of the kids noticed however, as they were both engrossed with their own tasks. Gwen had produced her small, personal laptop, and begun to take down the notes that were written in the book, in case she ever lost the original copy. She didn't mention her intentions to Grandpa Max.

Ben, meanwhile, had his nose in the pages of his Spider-Man comic. Not only was it a limited edition, but it was actually a collection of several stories, which meant that, while Ben had been reading it pretty much since they had left the game store, he was only about halfway through. He was happy to finally have some kind of entertainment, and even though he had read some of the stories that were in the book, he was happy to revisit them. Anything to get away from the cramped R.V. for a little while.

Despite this, his thoughts kept drifting to Kevin and his mysterious power. What was that? It could have simply been an exploitation of the faulty machine, but it sort of seemed like… Some kind of superpower. That put a bit of a damper on Ben's spirits. How cool it would be, he thought, to have a superpower. Maybe then his summer would get a little bit less boring. He looked at a panel in his book, where Spider-Man was leaping through the air, and sighed, looking up from the fantastic image to the dinky surroundings that he found himself in. Then, shaking his head, he dove back into the story, trying to salvage his good mood from before.

So engrossed were they in their tasks that neither of the kids noticed when Grandpa Max took a small, relatively unmarked exit, and began to drive along a dirt road towards a patch of forest, and then through a gravel road through the forest. They didn't notice as he brought the R.V. to a stop in a relatively secluded clearing, with an old, burnt out firepit. It was only when he unbuckled himself, and stood up in the aisle, facing them, that they seemed to notice anything was even happening.

Max looked at their confused faces with a huge, toothy grin.

"We're here," he said.

Ben and Gwen swapped glances. Gwen closed her laptop and Ben turned to Max with a raised eyebrow.

"Where is 'here'?" He asked, forming little air quotes around the word with his fingers.

Max continued to beam.

"Our camping spot!" He said, like it was obvious. "Come on, help me pitch the tents. We've still got a couple hours before it gets dark. Then, it's time for weenies and marshmallows!"

While the words even _sounded_ embarrassing coming out of Grandpa Max's mouth, both kids could feel hunger creeping on, and so they began to help him with the construction of the campsite. Aside from the tents (a single for Max and a shared one for the kids, both of which were a chore to raise) they also had three foldable chairs to sit around the firepit. Then there was the construction of the actual fire, of course. Ben volunteered to help start the fire, but Max denied it, saying he could handle it.

"Why do we even need tents, anyway?" Ben muttered, as Max groaned, stooping to his knees to blow gently on the small blaze he had created amongst his bed of kindling. "Can't we just sleep in the R.V.?"

"Well, I thought you kids might be sick of the R.V. by now," Max said, "and wanted some fresh air. It's good for you! Besides, it's not really the full camping experience without a tent, now is it?"

"Do you think we'll see any chupacabras?" Gwen wondered aloud, trying to sound nonchalant. Ben rolled his eyes, and even Max shook his head a bit.

"No, I don't think we will," the old man said. Then, under his breath, he added: "At least I hope not."

Now that the camp had been prepared, and the fire was blazing, all that was left was to wait for the flames to die down to an ember for even cooking, and then to enjoy the roasted food by starlight. The three sat in silence: Ben and Gwen reading, and Max simply enjoying the tranquil atmosphere, and the fruits of his labor. With a satisfied sigh, he took off his wide-brimmed boat cap, and looked back and forth between the two kids. Even as the sun edged its way out of the sky, they stayed reading by the dim light. Max wondered where they had gotten their bookwormishness. It certainly wasn't from his side of the family. Max was not one for reading. He considered himself a man of action.

"Alright, alright, books away," he said, when eventually he could not stand the silence anymore. He was suddenly realized he had taken it for granted when the two pre-teens began to whine their complains. "Come on, quit whining. We're out in the beautiful, natural world! Enjoy it while we're here. It might not always be here."

The two kids looked at each other, and with a sigh, they put away their reading material. For now. They knew where Max kept the flashlights, and when the old man was asleep with a stomach full of s'mores, they both knew that the plan was to stay up all night reading. Ben only consoled himself in this shared time with his cousin with the fact that the last story in his comic book was one that he had never read before, and it looked super sick. Max smiled at his grandkids, as Ben leaned forward to rest his chin in his hand and Gwen pulled her knees up in her chair and crossed her arms. Neither looked super stoked about the great outdoors. Max tried to lighten the mood by producing a bag of uncooked hot dogs.

"Alright, well. I think it's supper time," he said. Both of the kids' stomachs growled, and he grinned, knowing he was right on the money. He handed out long, forked rods for roasting, and assisted the kids in skewering their sausages. They both knew how to do it on their own, but they weren't sure how to tell Max that. He was clearly in the grandpa zone. Then, as the two kids concentrated on not burning their dinner, Max went about setting up a small array of buns and condiments. The bare essentials: ketchup, mustard, and even a small tin of homemade relish that Max made, because he knew that Gwen liked relish.

When they had finished cooking (signaled by Ben getting impatient, putting his hot-dog too close to the fire, and then settling it ablaze, before quickly blowing it out), they each prepared their hot dogs in their own way. Ben plain, Max with ketchup and mustard, and Gwen with mustard and relish. Ben wrinkled his nose at her hot dog, and she made it very clear that she was ignoring him. They then ate hungrily, enjoying the simplistic food they had cooked themselves. After they were finished, they sat in satisfied silence, relaxing in their folding chairs and taking in the fact that it had grown dark, and they could see the stars. Way more stars than they could ever have seen in Bellwood. Max smiled as the crickets began to chirp, and put his hands behind his head, sighing happily.

"Oh yeah," he said. "This is the life."

"What about the Mothman? Or, minotaurs?" Gwen said, suddenly breaking the calm with the mention of yet more monsters. "Or, Grandpa, I read about these little fairies with special powers that grant wishes. They're called Kwa-"

"Yeah, alright, I'm gonna go pee now so I don't have to hear more about the chupacabras," Ben said, hopping up out of his chair abruptly walking off to the nearby treeline, just beyond the dimmest edge of the firelight, so that nobody got a sneak peek.

As Ben walked off, Ben turned to Gwen, once again donning a serious expression.

"Gwen," he said, "you need to stop worrying about monsters and magic."

"But-"

"I know what's in the book," Max said, making the point very clear. "I've read it front to cover. Half of the sticky notes in there are mine."

Gwen's jaw dropped.

" _Really?"_

,Max grinned cheekily. The bait had worked.

"Oh, yeah," he said, hamming it up. "I mean, I discovered the fact that garden gnomes kidnap human girls to become their queens."

Gwen suddenly looked chilled, and glanced at the treeline, and the slowly dying fire. Max held up a hand and smiled, indicating that he wasn't finished. She pulled her knees closer and listened, as Max continued his explanation.

"But- What I'm saying is, you don't have to worry about that. You don't have to worry about running into magical creatures. Most of the time, you don't even have to worry about _spotting_ them."

"Why not?"

"Well, because they have a leader that keeps them in check," Max said. Gwen leaned her head to the side inquisitively.

"A leader?" She echoed.

"That's right," Max said. "Some say he's an old man, walking around in tattered blue robes. Others say that he takes the form of a demon, with scales and horns. But, the explanation I've heard most, and the I'd put my money on, is that he takes the form a great Dragon, the color of the night sky. They say he can breathe fire like any dragon, but also lightning, and that he summons the very clouds of the sky around him, to obscure him from mortal sight."

Gwen sat, enthralled by the campfire story, her eyes wide as she listened.

"And the Dragon makes sure that the magical creatures stay hidden?" Gwen asked. "Why?"

"To keep them safe," Max said, "from us. The truth is, we humans are more dangerous than most of the magical monsters out there. They stay hidden, for fear of going the way of the dodo."

"Even _trolls?_ " Gwen said, whispering when she said the word as if it were taboo to even say. Max grimaced. He knew what the book said on trolls. He knew about the rough sketch, the scribbled, haggard handwriting, depicting nothing but horned death and danger beneath the surface of the earth.

"Trolls are a rare exception," Max said, "but the Dragon keeps the peace between us. He is a moderator between the worlds. If it weren't for him, monsters and humans might have had many wars by now."

Gwen looked kind of sad at that. Then, a little light burned inside of her eyes, and it was not just a reflection of the campfire.

"I hate war," she said. "I hate that stupid humans always go to war."

Max suddenly seemed very distant.

"So do I…" he said. His eyes sparkled a little with tears, and he sniffled, wiping his nose a bit as he looked down at the fire. Then, regaining his composure, he smiled at Gwen. "Just remember. Fear no creeper in the night. The Dragon's looking out for you."

Gwen seemed entirely satisfied with the story as an answer to all of her questions. She was, after all, a 12 year old girl. Her fascination was easily sated, and logical as she often was, her perception only went so far. She reached for her skewer and then turned to smile at Max.

"Can I roast the first s'more before Ben burns all the marshmallows?" She said mirthfully. Max gave her a wry grin, shaking his head as if he couldn't believe she'd say that.

"No way," he said, "we'll wait for the hot head to come back."

* * *

After Ben did his business, he was suddenly distracted by a strange smell. It was some kind of acrid, burning smell, coming from further into the woods. There was even a faint, thin trail of smoke seeping out from within the woods. Squinting in confusion, he turned to see if Gwen or Max had noticed. They were engrossed in some kind of fairy tail, and the boy shrugged, turning and dashing into the mild summer night. Small as he was, Ben made little sound, save for a few snapping branches, as he ran through the woods, in search of something interesting. After his encounter with Kevin's power, he had been wallowing in how mundane his life seemed in comparison, and was craving a forest fire or a camp full of poachers, or _anything_ that might spice up this camping trip.

As Ben broke through into a clearing, he realized that the clearing had probably not been there for too long. He stepped over toppled, blackened trees, and held an arm up to his face as he stepped into the thick haze of smoke that enveloped the clearing. He coughed back smoke once, and realized suddenly that, in trying to shield his nose and eyes from the stinging smoke, he had temporarily obscured his vision, and he suddenly tripped over a jutting tree branch. Yelping, he found himself rolling end over end into a hole he had not seen, skidding down the sides, being stung by the super hot dirt that lined the crater. As he fell, Ben dropped below the main cloud of smoke, which was rising up from hole itself, allowing him to blink away tears and regain his vision. It was indeed, he realized, a crater, like one might see in an alien movie.

Ben's heart began to race. Just seconds ago he had been romanticizing the idea of something supernatural happening, and now that something out of the ordinary _was_ happening, he wasn't sure how much he actually wanted it. Despite himself, his impulsive curiosity won out, and he began to scour the bottom of the hole for any signs of alien life. He found none, and realized with some confusion that there was no flame feeding the strange smelling smoke that rose up from the crater. As he crawled around on the bottom of the crater, not lingering in one spot to avoid being stung by the strangely ever-hot dirt, his hand brushed something cool to the touch and textured.

It moved!

"Ah!" Ben yelped, as the thing he had brushed leapt towards his hand. He tried to retract it, fumbling backwards and way, but whatever it was moved faster than the boy could even blink, and as he fell backwards on his butt, he felt the thing clamp onto his wrist. His other hand instinctively flew there, and he gave a shout of fear and surprise, clawing at the strange texture that was now stuck to his wrist. It felt like a bug or a snake, but it felt almost manmade. Ben's heart was racing, and then was a sudden prick of pain in his wrist. Ben was certain the thing was sucking his blood. He nearly passed out.

"Help!" He shouted desperately.

Then, the pain vanished, and all at once, the billowing smoke disappeared. Ben stopped screaming, and blinked to try and gain some sense of vision by the moonlight at what has stuck itself to his wrist. It was black and silver, glinting organically like something with scales, although the edges were way to smooth and uniform to be scales. It almost could have looked like a crazy, gonzo wrist watch, but where the clock face would have been, there was instead nothing. Just a flat, smooth surface. Ben looked down in confusion, and then tried to shake it off of his hand. The watch thing didn't move. Ben panicked a bit, shaking and pulling on the thing furiously. He even slammed his wrist against the sand, and discovered three truths.

First of all, the sand was cooling rapidly.

Second of all, the thing was not going to come off, now matter how hard he tried.

Third and finally, the "clock face" of the watch was now glowing with a bright blue symbol, akin to a black-widow's design, or an hourglass.

This final thing caught Ben's interest, and he pulled the watch closer to his face, trying to determine the source of the light. As he did, it suddenly shot a beam of blue light up and down his eye, and he blinked in surprise. Then, through tinny speakers, a voice spoke in a language Ben couldn't understand. It droned on and on, the voice morphing and warping, before, finally, it started to sound like words Ben could comprehend.

" _-ation mode in process. Standby for recalibration. Recalibration mode in process… Recalibration complete._ "

Just as soon as Ben began to understand the words being emitted from the strange device, it stopped talking as suddenly as it had started, interrupted by a strange, digital chirping noise. It tingled in Ben's ears, and sent a shock up his spine, as if telling him that it was time for action. As it did, the glowing design suddenly blinked from blue to a neon green, and the watch face popped out like a small, cylindrical button. Ben blinked as the hourglass shape crossed open, and revealed a glowing, shifting green aura inside of the device. Then, a silhouette appeared in the misty aura. It was humanoid, but it had some kind of energy flickering off of it.

Ben didn't think. He acted on impulse. He knew exactly what he had to do.

He pressed the button.


	5. Chapter 04

**_Author's Note:_ ** _Hey guys! Welcome back to another chapter! So up until now I have been posting new chapters both on Fanfic.net and on AO3, just so that people could choose their desired site and read there. However, recently Fanfic's been having some tech issues, so the primary focus is going to be here on AO3! We might see some new people joining this side, so I just wanna say, I love to hear what you have to say on the series, and AO3 makes it a lot easier for me to reach out and discuss your and my feelings about the world of Danger Watch!_

_Wow, anyway, thats a ton of text. Basically, thanks for tuning in, as always, and enjoy the chapter!_

* * *

**Chapter 04**

There was a sudden flash of green light, forcing Ben to blink and shield his eyes. When the flare died down, Ben dragged himself to his feet, trying to look around and regain his surroundings now that the smoke had dispersed. To his surprise, the entire clearing was better lit than he remembered, and not only that, but he had a much better vantage point. He felt… taller.

Looking around, he was met with a strange, low, roaring noise in his ears, as if there were water trapped between them. He tapped the side of his head with his palm, leaning it to the side, but found no success. It wouldn't make sense anyway. He hadn't gone swimming. The boy had hardly taken a shower since their trip began. He shook his head, and decided he would go back to camp. This was way too weird. Maybe Grandpa Max, ever the handyman, could help him get this strange thing off. As he was crawling out of the crater, he began to hear voices from further in the woods, causing him to freeze.

"This way!" One said. It was a woman's voice, low and raspy.

"The energy signature is getting stronger!" Came another, nearly identical, voice.

As Ben sat there, crouched against the wall of the crater, he began to smell something… burning. Worried that the smoke was returning, he glanced down to the watch- It wasn't there.

And his arm was on fire.

" _AHHHHHH!"_ He shouted, in a voice that was not his own. It was deep, masculine, and otherworldly, like some kind of fun house filter. He shook his hand to get rid of the flames, but they didn't budge. However, they also didn't hurt. " _WHAT THE HECK?"_

"Did you hear that? It's this way! What is that?" Came the voices.

As Ben stumbled backwards, standing in the bottom of the pit, he examined his body. He was indeed much larger, taller, and more muscular… And he was also made completely out of magma chunks and living flame. He was some kind of burning golem, and there in the center of his chest, was a glowing green hourglass. The voices continued to grow closer, and Ben could hear their footsteps now. Swift, humanoid stomping followed by something larger, and more mechanical. Ben's heart should have been racing, but he realized, with a rush of anxiety, that he had no such thing anymore. He wanted to cry. His body was _gone!_ He was some kind of fire monster!

As Ben stood there in shocked anguish, several forms broke the tree line. The first 5 were small, much smaller than Ben's new form, stocky, and humanoid. They could have been musclebound, small humans with body paint if it weren't for a few key differences. The clothing they wore seemed to be made of shimmering light, merging and mingling with their actual bodies as if it were sewn into them. Furthermore, each of them seemed to have a full sized, dark red gemstone embedded into their bodies. One had it buried deep in her shoulder, and one had a gem where her eyeball should have been.

Then, as Ben was still reeling from the arrival of the strange people, they were reinforced by a large line of mechanical monstrosities. These things were heads taller than Ben's new form, with a mix of black and orange metal, sleek and alien looking. They moved like robots, but the way that their bodies and heads moved gave them an eerie, breathing quality. The force stopped at the lip of the crater, examining Ben just as he examined them.

"What are you doing here, pyronite?" One of the small beings, an individual with a bushy afro and a yellow visor. Ben was confused, but eventually caught on that she was talking to him.

" _That's not my name_ ," he said with that alien voice. She squinted in confusion as well.

"What?"

"Ruby! The energy signature seems to be coming from that strange device in the pyronite's chest! Shall we extract it?" One of the red creatures said. This was the one with a gemstone for an eyeball. Ben noticed she was clutching some strange, electronic device in her hands. As he heard the words "device" and "extract", Ben started to get excited.

" _Woah, no way,_ " he said, " _you guys know how to get this thing off of me?"_

There was a beat, and then there was a small chorus of stifled laughter from the small people.

"Oh, sure," the leader said.

"We turn you into red goo," the one with the gemstone naval said, "and pluck it out of the mess."

Then, she giggled like a school kid, covering her face as if it were embarrassing.

"Drones. Extract the device."

Ben wasn't sure which of the being's had issued the command: their voices were nearly identical. However, he did note that as soon as it was given, the robots, which had remind stationary during the conversation, began to advance. Panicking, the boy took a step back, holding his hands out in front of him.

" _Hey, wait a sec… Stay back!"_ He said nervously. Fear began to creep up inside of him. Normally, that would have meant sweaty hands and trembling legs. That would have been in his human body. The nervous system of this form apparently worked a bit differently. As the robots came closer, menacingly, Ben's fear rose, and so too did the temperature of the air around him.

The flames coming out between the plates of solid, magma-like armor that created Ben's body began to burn hotter and brighter, and as he held out his hands to stop the oncoming robots, there was a roaring sound, and his palms suddenly flared. Then, with hardly a second even passing, two globules of golden-white flame came shooting out of his hands, blasting in two random directions. One of the smashed into the side of the crater, kicking up a cloud of dust. The second fireball flew into the dust cloud, and there was a smashing sound. Moments later, one of the drones came crashing down in front of Ben in the crater, its leg slowly dissolving, the metal superheated and melting, before suddenly cooling rapidly, in a completely destroyed position.

" _Woahhh…. Cool!"_ Ben said, looking down in wonder at his blazing hands " _That was like some kinda… Heat blast!"_

He had no time to rest on his accolades, however, as two more drones walked forward, clearing the rest of the cloud that Ben had created. One lunged forward with a menacing, claw-like hand, attempting to grapple the flaming creature, but Ben launched a reactionary blast of flame, crippling the end of the appendage so that when it would have reached him, instead, a melted stump simply slashed through the air in front of him. With a burning grin, Ben then shot off two more blasts, this time at the same drone's head. This was enough to send it reeling back, its face melted, before falling down onto its brother that had gone down first, taking both of them out.

However, as Ben was focused on the first drone, the second came up beside him, catching him unawares. With a huge, mechanical claw, it snatched up Ben. Then, using both claws, it began to squeeze him, slowly. He heard encouraging cheers from the little red women standing at the edge of the clearing, and he turned, taking note at the remaining 5 drones. He was aware of the crushing pain that was coming from the drone's claws, but he pushed it aside, and, thinking on his feet, Ben reached forward, pressing his bare hands against what he assumed was the head of the strange, alien mechanism. Then, with a shout of exertion, he began to channel molten, yellow fire into the drone from the top down. The lava spilled through the machines insides, melting them, and it dropped to a husk at the bottom of the crater. Ben pried off the now limp metal claws, and turned to the rest of the remaining force, his hands burning intensely.

" _Who's next?"_ He taunted.

There was no hesitation. The remaining drones came charging forward. It took Ben just a short leap with his legs, which were now much longer, to get up and out of the pit, and as he did, he felt the steam and heat that released from his feet caused him to jump even higher. As he did, he twisted mid-air and sent a blast of flame ricocheting behind him, connecting with and damaging a couple of the drones. They were still hot on his tail. As they made it out of the crater, and began to get close to melee range once more, he took another running leap to the opposite side of the crater, firing off a barrage of heat blasts as he went. As he landed, he used one hand to shoot a scorching line of flame across the ground, keeping the gemstone-laden aliens at bay while he dealt with the immediate threat.

He had taken down one of the drones. Four remained, though two of them had legs that weren't fully functioning, and thus lagged behind the pack, and the leader seemed to have a malfunctioning claw, all due to Ben's barrage of projectiles. He grimaced as he stood his ground, watching the drones approach once more. He could feel his stamina draining, and realized, with a sudden twist of his stomach, that his fire powers were not infinite. He was starting to pant.

As he took a running start for another super jump, Ben had a crazy idea he had read in one of the stories in his comic book. As he took to the sky, narrowly avoiding the grasping claw of one of the drones, he blasted flames straight down in a concentrated burst. To his immense surprise, his plan worked, and for a few seconds, he was held in the air by the pressure exerted by the immense heat thrusters. He laughed, as, for the first time, he experienced the joy of flying.

Then, he began to lose his balance. He flailed his hands and feet, but he had lost the momentum, and came tumbling to the ground with a heavy _thud._

" _Ouch… I almost had that…"_ Ben said.

Then, he glanced up, as the four remaining drones began to swarm around him, on the ground. Too many! They were coming from every side. His fear began to rise again, and as the looming, apathetic faces of the drones leaned down to reach for him, he let out a final, terrified, primal cry of defiance. As he did, there was a huge burst of fire and light, and burning air went pulsing out in every direction, as he exploded into flame.

He melted the drones where they stood, down to their mechanical ankles.

Ben knelt on the ground, panting heavily, forced for a moment to catch his breath after the massive expenditure of power. He glanced forward, wincing, trying to catch a glimpse of the crimson women from behind his makeshift wall of flame. They stood there, eyes wide in surprise, staring at him. Before they got too bold, or Ben made any sort of move, there was a sound from the woods behind Ben.

"Ben? Are you out there?" A voice called.

Grandpa Max.

"Ben, this isn't funny! We're waiting on s'mores for you!"

Gwen.

Ben's heart soared. They were coming! Then, his heart plummeted once again. What would they think of him, now that he looked like this? What would he tell them? And what about-?

As he turned to check again on the lurking women, he realized that they had vanished, apparently dashing off into the trees. He blinked in surprise, and try as he might to look around the clearing for signs of an ambush, he found none. It seemed they had run off. His suspicion was confirmed as, many long moments later, there was some kind of melodical chime in the distance, and then a beam of light went shooting off into the sky.

As Ben watched the beam go streaking away, there was the sound of a branch cracking behind him, and as he turned to see what the commotion was, he was met with a shrill, girlish scream. To his relief, Ben saw Max and Gwen standing at the opposite edge of the clearing, taking in the burning carnage with looks of absolute horror. Gwen ducked behind Max, who held a double barrel shotgun in his hands, and was squinting with the look of a man on a mission.

"I'm only going to ask this once," Max said, cocking the shotgun. "Where's my grandson?"

Ben looked nervously at the gun, and then held up his hands placating, before remembering what had happened the last time, and aiming them in a safer direction.

" _Wait! Grandpa… It's me!"_ He said.

Max blinked. Then, he brought the shotgun up to point it at the center of Ben's chest.

"You're sick," he said. "I'm not going to ask again."

" _Wait wait wait! Hold on, I- I can explain!"_

"Grandpa…" Gwen said, starting to come out from behind him, despite the defensive arm he held out.

"Stay back Gwen," Max said.

" _I came out to pee and then there was this weird smoke so i followed it and there was this CRAZY crater and then I found this super weird watch that wouldn't come off and then I pressed it and I turned into this guy!"_

The words came babbling out of the monster's flaming maw with all of the vigor of a child explaining something, and as he continued to talk, Max's grip on his weapon grew slack, and his jaw began to drop open. As Ben finished the tale, recounting his battle with the drones as well as the strange women who had vanished in a beam of light, the old man shook his head, looking around at the wrecked drones, burning dirt, and giant, glowing alien. His eyes looked sunken and harrowed.

"Can you… Can you change back?" He asked.

Ben looked down.

" _I don't know…"_ He said. " _I don't wanna be a fire monster forever."_

"I didn't read about any fire monsters in the book." Gwen commented.

"He's not a monster, he's an alien." Max said instinctively. Then, as both of them looked to him suspiciously, he stammered and turned pink. "Uh, I mean, obviously, right? With the robots and mechanical doohickeys."

To Max's immense relief, there was a distraction from his outburst. Suddenly, the device in Ben's chest began to flash. Instead of its green color, or the blue that Ben had seen, the hourglass was flashing red, along with a low, droning sound, like it was losing power. Ben looked down at his chest in confusion, and there was a sudden flash of green light. Then, the clearing was suddenly a lot darker, and Gwen and Max blinked, temporarily blinded. As their eyes adjusted, Gwen pulled out a flashlight, and turned it on, causing Ben to throw up his arms to shield his eyes.

"Hey, watch it!" He said.

"Ben! You're you again!" Gwen said. "Not exactly an improvement, but what can you do?"

"Shut up," Ben said.

"I'm just glad you're O.K."

Max went over and took Ben into a hug, which caused the boy to blush hard, and attempt to shove away from him. Max didn't allow this until he had gotten a good hug in, and then when they separated, he held the boy at arms length, grabbing his wrist gently to inspect the strange device that was latched there. His eyes glittering in the night, he gave the watch an experimental tug, and raised his eyebrows.

"Hm," he said. "You're right… That's not going anywhere without a good set of tools. I've got some in the R.V… Come on. Let's get back to camp."

Ben nodded, the exhaustion slowly hitting him. As they began to walk away, Gwen asked:

"Are we still gonna make s'mores?"

* * *

_**Moon of Earth, Present Day** _

There was a bright chime and a flash of light, and the quintet of Rubies walked tentatively off of the warp pad that was installed in the main chamber of the gem moon base.

"The boss isn't gonna be happy," one of them, a burly gem with her stone inlaid in her shoulder, said. The others were silent, but they knew she was right.

_**AT LEAST YOU GOT ONE THING RIGHT TODAY.** _

The Rubies flinched as the voice of their new master resonated psionically in their heads, as it was wanton to do. They stood their ground as the usual host of drones came marching in, wheeling along a recovering body in a tube.

The one who called himself their master was actually only broken fragments of a person. A six foot long, burly torso, torn and destroyed on the bottom half, and held in a floating tube of stasis goo. His head was laden with tentacles, and while he only had one arm, it was large, burly, and green, with menacing claws, and thick, protruding veins. Bubbles rippled up from a breathing apparatus strapped to the being's face, and although his eyes were closed, the Rubies knew that he could sense them with his powers of the mind.

_**TYPICAL. WHY DID I TRUST A BAND OF GEMS TO DO THE JOB FOR ME? AND RUBIES NO LESS. AREN'T YOU THE LOWLIEST OF YOUR SPECIES?** _

None of them had the courage to correct him if he was wrong. He let their failure hang in the air for a moment before he continued.

_**LUCKILY FOR YOU, YOUR EFFORTS WERE NOT FRUITLESS. I SAW THE ENTIRE ENCOUNTER THROUGH YOUR EYES.** _

The gems glanced at each other uncomfortably. They were still growing used to the fact that this creature could, at a whim, tap into their minds, and use their senses for his own, due to the psychic bond he had forced them to share with him. His pervasive thoughts were ever present, and it was enough to cause some of the crew to feel a rising sense of hysteria. The psychic lecture went on.

_**SO… A HUMAN HAS GOTTEN THEIR HANDS ON MY PRIZE. SINCE YOUR KIND HAS A POOR TRACK RECORD FIGHTING HUMANS, I WILL PUT YOU TO USE FINDING SOME PEOPLE WHO CAN.** _

A drone came forward, it's hulking form leaning down in an oddly dainty manner to hand a small, metal square to the Rubies' leader. She held it, and it snapped open to reveal a spinning, 3-dimensional, holographic display of three beings. They wore spacer armor, and were armed to the lead Ruby squinted at the one in the center. Her face was obscured with a helmet, but her armor looked somewhat familiar.

"Bounty hunters?" One of the Rubies asked what they were all thinking.

There was no answer from the being in the pod. Clearly, this meant, the question had an answer so obvious that he could not be bothered to answer it. The Ruby with a gemstone eye cracked her knuckles.

"Where do we find them?" She asked.

_**I'VE PROGRAMMED YOUR SHIP WITH COORDINATES TO THE MEGACRUISER. IT'S A PLEASURE VESSEL OWNED BY AN ANDROID NAMED SLIX VIGMA. IF YOU'RE GIVEN ANY TROUBLE, SIMPLY TELL HIM THAT YOU ARE MY EMISSARIES. THAT WILL GRANT YOU PASSAGE.** _

"And what do we tell them when we find them?" The leader asked, referring to the bounty hunters.

There was a pause.

_**TELL THEM THAT VILGAX IS CALLING IN THEIR DEBTS.** _


	6. Chapter 05

**Author's Note:** _Hey again! Welcome back to another chapter! I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, as it has a lot of lore about the Danger Watch universe packed into it. I've also done something pretty interesting with a character you might know... Like I've said before, I am doing a sort of MCU twist on everything with DWU. That means some characters might not be exactly how you expect or remember, but thats part of the fun! I always try to stay close to the spirit of the character, though._

_Anyway, that's a lot from me. Thanks for tuning in, be sure to leave a Kudos/Leave a Bookmark or Comment if you haven't, and enjoy the chapter!_

* * *

**Chapter 05**

_**Somewhere in Earth's Solar System…** _

As the Ruby captain pushed the controls of their red, teardrop ship further, they shifted beyond the obscuring rubble of the asteroid belt, and, for the first time, got a glimpse of the Megacruiser.

It was an enormous ship, much bigger than a gem Hand Ship, with countless decks, lit up like the sides of a cruise ship. It had a slick, black exterior that made it look like it was swimming through the endless night of space, and the lights that illuminated it were an eerie red color. As their comparatively miniscule vessel continued its approach, the Ruby with a gemstone in her arm spoke up.

"I don't like it," she said. "Bounty hunters? He shoulda just gave us another try. We never even tussled with the pyronite."

"Yeah, and, aren't we… immune to fire?" The one with the gemstone naval said.

The Ruby with the gem for an eye piped up to shut them down.

"We're following orders, and that's that. Right, captain?" She said, turning to the pilot, who grimaced, focusing on her task.

"Correct," she said, "it's not our job to question our Diamo- I mean. Vilgax's orders. We will retrieve these bounty hunters for him, and there will be no more complaints. Understood?"

"Yes, Ruby," her subordinates said in unison.

After that, there was no more conversation until they were within docking range of the Megacruiser. There was an energy shield protecting the docking bay, and they knew it would slice their ship in two if they tried to just fly in unannounced. As they approached, there was an incoming transmission to the Ruby ship. The captain answered it.

" _State your business on the Megacruiser,"_ a voice said on the other end.

"We're under direct orders from Vilgax. Picking up some bounty hunters," the captain said.

There was a distinct pause, long enough for the Rubies to start looking at each other nervously. Then, there was a shuffling on the other end, and another voice came through. This one was robotic and terrifying, with the words sounding like they had been put through some demonic text-to-speech program.

" _ **You Will. Enter.**_ " The voice said.

The Rubies let out a collective sigh of relief, and the captain brought the ship in towards the docking bay. They watched as the ray shield was brought down, and their teardrop shaped ship slowly hovered to a landing position. Then, there was snap-zapping sound as the ray shield was brought back up. The small troop of gems climbed out of their ship, and looked around with looks of wonder at all of the other vessels there. They were used to gem ships only, and the spacefaring ships that lined the docking bay of the Megacruiser were anything but. They saw imposing Lorwardian hunter-ships, shiny Akiridion speeders, and even a regal Tetramand battle-wing, just to name a few. They left the hangar, led by the captain, and entered the main area of the ship.

They were instantly met with loud, alien music, and a raucous chorus of applause. The main area was built like a colosseum, with a huge battle arena dominating the center of the ship, with stands lining the sides like bleachers, which were filled with every kind of alien imaginable. Then, at the very top, where the Rubies now found themselves walking in, was a long cantina, with tables and bar tops lining the entire ring around the battle arena. In the pit there were two creatures fighting. There was a powerfully built, humanoid being with the features of a triceratops, with a huge head plate, forehead horns, a beak, and a long, thick, tail. He was clad in rudimentary armor and a shield, and armed only with a heavy, metal bludgeon. The alien's opponent was a huge beast, that slobbered and spit from its enormous, fanged maw. It had no eyes, only shaggy orange fur, and a strange set of slits running down its side that could only be described as gills. The two were locked in combat, and the crowd in the stands was deafening as they egged them on.

As the Rubies waded through the cantina, they were met with many suspicious glances. This was to be expected: most gems didn't leave their Homeworld, and when they did, it usually meant that they were creating a new colony. However, as were the strictly enforced rules on the Megacruiser, there was not to be any violence. Anybody who wanted to break these rules could duke it out in the arena. The little red aliens, thus, were undisturbed, though many people gave them the stink eye, including a man who wore a wide-brimmed hat. It was almost like something an Earth samurai would wear, but heavy and metal. He was flanked by a variety of armed soldiers, and as the Rubies walked past, he seemed to let his beady, red eyes linger on them for a while.

In the pit, the shaggy monster pounced towards the dinosaur man, and, standing his ground, he used the shield as leverage to flip the beast over. Then, he dashed forward, and went to deliver a finishing blow to its throat. However, the monster scrabbled up once again, and the two took to a vicious scuffle in the dirt. The Ruby with a gem in her arm couldn't help but watch the variety of floating viewing screens that showed the fight below, and she even put on a wide grin and pumped her fist as the two aliens hit the ground.

"Yeah! Get 'em!" She said under her breath. One of the other Rubies glanced sidelong at her, but said nothing. At the head of the pack, the gemstone eyed Ruby leaned in to murmur to the captain.

"Ruby," she said, pointing towards an occupied table, "I think I spotted our targets."

The captain followed her finger. The table she was gesturing to had three occupants. The largest and most obvious was a strange, bronze, creature, standing at nearly 8 hulking feet in height. It stood stooped, with some sort of biomechanical faceplate covering what was no doubt a horrifying mouth. He stood on wide, segmented legs, like those of a crab or spider, and his torso was almost human, giving him a sort of centaurian stature. One of his arms was entirely human looking, save for cybernetic enhancement, but the other was completely unrecognizable as such. It was like a massive, biomechanical claw. When the claw was open, there could be seen some kind of cylindrical protrusion, like the barrel of a laser cannon.

His two companions were of much more manageable size. One was slender at the waist, but with broad shoulders, mounted on which was some kind of holster for short, metal javelins. Also sticking off of this person's shoulders was an extra set of mechanical arms. It was hard to tell what species he was, due to the mask that he wore as a part of his armor.

There was no such problem with the last bounty hunter.

Her skin was a pastel grey color. She had long, black hair, full, dark lips, and a smokey pattern around her eyes that made it look as though she had heavy, grungy make-up on. She wore shimmering, obsidian armor, that seemed to be as much a part of her skin as it was clothing. On the table in front of her sat her helmet, which, if she had worn it, might have covered the shining, black gemstone embedded in her forehead. As the Rubies took her in, they each gasped in turn.

She was a gem.

She was a Tektite.

As they walked over to the table, there was a roar of excitement as apparently, the match was won. A voice came shouting over a loudspeaker.

"Traximus the Triceraton has done it! He's bested a vulpimancer in single combat! That means he lives to fight another day in the Battle Nexus!"

Watching a nearby floating screen-bot, the tektite bounty hunter pumped her fist. She liked Traximus. She'd bet a lot of space money on Traximus. As her purple-armored companion begrudgingly handed a pouch of money over, the tektite squinted through the shifting crowd as she spotted something red out of the corner of her eye. Sure enough, as a hulking, four-armed Tetramand moved out of the way, she saw a quintet of smaller red beings moving towards her table. They each sported gemstones protruding from their bodies, similar to her. However, while the tektite wore cobbled together spacer armor, these 5 wore matching uniforms. Uniforms with a v-cut in the center that was patterned to form a diamond.

The bounty hunter didn't hesitate.

Leaping to her feet, she grabbed her chair by the back rest and whipped it across the room at the approaching Rubies, who, startled, scattered in multiple directions. Then, the tektite seized the moment of confusion, shoving past a few random onlookers and dashing away into the crowd. Recovering swiftly from the confusion of the chair, one Ruby, who had her gemstone in the side of her thigh, pointed out which direction the tektite was running, and then the chase was on. All 5 of the red aliens went sprinting after the fleeing gem. Glancing at each other, the large, bronze, crab monster and the purple-clad warrior shrugged, picked up their weapons, and then went dashing after the Rubies.

The tektite glanced over her shoulder.

"Damnit," she muttered, as she noticed the Rubies on her tail. Then, the turned to face where she was running.

Just in time! A pair of serving bots were fast approaching, carrying between them a huge platter of food, apparently for the hungry Lorwardians seated nearby. The gem, like any sensible spacer, knew that a hungry Lorwardian was not a foe to be reckoned with, and so, in order to avoid interrupting their dinner, dropped into a power slide. She skidded, with practiced ease, across the sleek, space-velvet floor, before vaulting back up into a running stance on the other side. She glanced back again, a confident grin on her face. Then, her grin melted as she watched the Rubies, with their short statures, simply run beneath the tray of food with no inconvenience.

Her companions, however, were not as lucky. The other two bounty hunters shoved bar patrons out of the way, struggling to keep up with the surprisingly nimble little red gems. They were moving so quickly and furiously that they didn't see the tray of food coming, and the large, bronze alien tumbled headfirst into one of the two serving droids, bringing the entire fiasco down on top of himself. The bounty hunter in purple paused, and then took a step back, vanishing into the crowd as the two Lorwardians approached the fallen hunter. They were both towering, muscular aliens, with scaly green skin and reptilian yellow eyes One of them, apparently the male, had a growth of red spines running up his chest, neck, and eyes.

"That was my dinner," he said, cracking his knuckles as he loomed over the crab-like alien.

Meanwhile, the tektite was running out of room. She was reaching the cantina wall, and she didn't want to take the chase below deck, for risk of violating Slix's rules. Biting her lip furiously, she suddenly stopped on a dime, hedging her bets and turning around to face the oncoming Rubies with a determined look. The gem in her forehead began to glow, and with a swift motion, she drew from it some kind of energy weapon, a gun. She pointed it towards the leader, the little gem that bore the translucent yellow visor. There were a few audible gasps from nearby bar-goers, and the crowd parted swiftly, leaving only the Rubies, who stood in a defensive formation, and the lone tektite facing off. The Ruby captain held a hand out for her troops to stand down. The tektite held her weapon steady.

"What does she want?" She said, blowing a long strand of black hair out of her face.

"Who are you talking about?" The Ruby captain asked, genuinely. The tektite squinted, as if that were an obvious question.

"Your Diamond," she said, "what does she want?"

There was a hushed murmur among the nearby crowd. A crew of gems was an odd sight indeed, but the Megacruiser was full of those. A crew of gems that were in active service of a Diamond… Did not sit well with many of the resident aliens. Several of the species present no longer had habitable homeworlds, thanks to the actions of the Diamond Authority. The Rubies knew this, and the captain began to sweat nervously.

"We… uh…" she said, her cheeks turning a deep, brick red. "We aren't here… on behalf of a Diamond."

The tektite seemed completely thrown off.

"Wait… you're not with the Authority?" She said. At the clarification, a large part of the crowd had returned to their drink, music, and revelry. A new bout was beginning in the Battle Nexus, and that was much more important than some business between rogue gems.

The Ruby captain shook her head, looking around nervously, holding up placating hands until most of the crowd had gone back to business as usual. Then, she cleared her throat, and looked at the bounty hunter, eye to eye (as well as she could manage, anyway.) She started to put her hands together into the traditional gem greeting, but then smartly decided against it, and awkwardly bowed instead.

"Hello, Tektite," she said. "What um… is your designation?"

The tektite snorted.

"My _name_ is Tetrax. Tetrax Shard," she said.

The Ruby captain squirmed, as did most of her crew. To them, it was odd for a gem to give themselves a "name". Taboo, even, as the Diamonds assigned gems their designations upon being _cut,_ a process which predated even the Kindergarten stage of gem birth. Despite her discomfort, the captain decided it was wise to continue with formality, and so addressed her as she pleased.

"Yes. Well. Tektite Tetrax Shard," she said, somewhat butchering the name. Textrax couldn't be bothered to correct her. She knew how Rubies were. "We come on behalf of one called Vilgax."

At the mention of the name, Tetrax's eyebrow twitched. She grimaced, her gun still trained on the Ruby.

"What does _he_ want?" She said.

"He says... " The Ruby said, glancing at the barrel of the weapon, and gulping. "He says he's calling in your debts."

"He just sent for me?" Tetrax asked skeptically. The captain shook her head.

"You and your companions," she said.

As if summoned by her mention, the large, crab-like alien arrived. The Lordwardians were nowhere in sight. He walked over to stand beside Tetrax. Seconds later, the warrior in purple emerged, seemingly appearing out of thin air, materializing from the bustling cantina crowd. Tetrax turned to them.

"Looks like Vilgax finally wants us to make good on what we owe him," she said, holstering her gun at her hip. She purposely didn't return it to her gem, in case she needed it again soon..

The large, bronze alien made a clicking, snorting sound.

" _Good. I can finally get the slimy squid off my back,"_ he said. " _I'm tired of worrying about that damned favor."_

The other hunter was silent, and Tetrax turned back to the Ruby.

"So, you jumped ship and found a more reasonable master huh? Well, 'more' being relative," she said. The Ruby with the gemstone eye clutched a fist, but remained silent. Tetrax noticed, and smirked a little, a small indent forming in her cheek. "If you ever do go back to your Diamonds, I recommend convincing them to stop trying to colonize Terra. The natives will never budge, and the Rebels will go down tooth and nail for it."

"Traitor!" The bulky Ruby with the gem in her arm said, gritting her teeth with rage. The captain held up a hand to silence her. They were traitors too, after all.

The alien in purple armor grew impatient.

"Enough of this gem nonsense," he said, turning to the Rubies, faceless beneath his mask. "Who's our target?"


	7. Chapter 06

**Author's Note:** _Hey again! Welcome back to another chapter! Let's jump right in!_

* * *

**Chapter 06**

It didn't take long for Grandpa Max to realize that the device, which they had dubbed "the watch", was not coming off by any means short of severing Ben's arm at the wrist. Needless to say, Ben was not keen on the idea. So, they had decided, he would have to keep it for now, until they could figure out what it was, and found someone who could help them get it off. For the remainder of the night of Ben's encounter with the watch, the hourglass remained red, and the glow was dull. That, Ben had assumed, meant that it was recharging. Exhausted from the nights events, he had fallen asleep.

By the time he had awoken, the watch was green again.

As Ben emerged from his tent, he noticed Grandpa Max was sitting in the cab of the R.V., with a phonebook in his lap, and his relic of a flip phone in the palm of his large, weathered hand. He once again wore his small, round glasses, and was muttering to himself as he read names and numbers aloud.

"Hey, Grandpa, watcha doin'?" Ben asked. Max winced.

"Oh-! Dangit," he said, looking up to Ben. "You made me lose my place. Listen, Ben, why don't you and Gwen spend some time together. Figure out if you can work the watch again. I gotta make some calls. Just- Don't go doing anything crazy like last night, OK? Stay close."

Ben grinned. He didn't need any more encouragement to go and play with his new, alien toy. He completely disregarded his Grandpa's mention of spending time with his cousin, who was sitting in a chair by the long-dead campfire, reading her book. A bottle of bug spray sat beside her foot. She barely raised an eye to watch him spring past into the nearby field, but her curiosity peaked as he heard a telltale beeping noise. Marking her place in the book with her History Fair first place ribbon, she hitched the tome beneath her arm, and folded up her chair, slinging it over her shoulder. Then, upon finding a suitable place, she unfolded the chair, and sat down, in the middle of the field, off to the side of Ben.

He squinted at her through the sun, which was in his eyes.

"What do you want?" He said. Gwen shrugged.

"Just to watch," she said.

Ben looked smug for a second, but then scoffed.

"Yeah, I bet," he said, returning to the serious stance he had been in prior to Gwen's arrival, with one foot forward and the watch-bearing arm out in front of him forming a horizontal right angle. It was dynamic in concept, but with his gangly, 12 year old body and lack of coordination, he looked pretted goofy pulling it off. He looked down at the watch, and without even touching the surface, the cylindrical button popped out, splicing the hourglass shape down the center and revealing a cloudy abyss of green. Then, that familiar silhouette of the fire alien appeared.

Ben brought the watch up to his eye, trying to get a good look at it. As he did, he accidentally applied some pressure with his fingers, causing the cylindrical button to rotate on its access. There was a clicking sensation that ran up and down Ben's forearm, and all of a sudden, the familiar, flaming shadow was replaced with something he had never seen before. It was lean and long, built like some kind of deinonychous raptor, with a long tail, and some kind of head spike. Ben raised his eyebrows in surprise, and then a huge, toothy grin spread across his face.

That thing looked cool.

He turned to Gwen with a smug look on his face, and she quirked a brow skeptically.

"Check this out," he said, slamming his hand down on the button.

There was flash of green light, and when Gwen had blinked her vision back to normal, her cousin had vanished. In his place stood a tall, blue, humanoid creature, with a slightly stooped stature. Its face was long, with an aerodynamic black horn curving out and back on the crown of its head. It had wide, clawed feet, with powerful tendons like a horse or dinosaur, and a long, thick, sweeping tail, that was dominantly blue, but with black stripes. It had a face, and it was surprisingly human, save for its jarring yellow eyes, lack of a nose, and the strange, black chitin that seemed to rest on the side of its head.

Ben looked himself up and down.

" _Woah… this guy's sick!_ " He said, his voice coming out in a hissing baritone.

"What does it do?" Gwen asked, pulling up her knees curiously.

Ben did a little circle as he looked himself up and down again, patting down his muscle groups. He realized, with a _skikt!_ That he possessed dangerous, retractable black talons on his feet and hands. He also realized that when he flexed his cheek muscles, there was a strange sensation, almost like a hinge popping. As he continued to flex that muscle, there was suddenly a hissing noise, and his vision became slightly obscured by a chitinous black mask. Gwen made a somewhat impressed face.

" _I wonder what that's for,"_ Ben said, flexing again and retracting the mask.

"Does it fly?" Gwen asked, with an air of girlish curiosity in her voice. The blue alien that was her cousin squinted suspiciously at her, and she put up her hands to show innocence. "I don't know! Fighter pilots wears masks. It could be an altitude thing. Is it really that crazy?"

Ben, begrudgingly, realized that she was right. He tried hopping into the air, and found that, proportionately, he was no better jumper than he was as a human. He shrugged at Gwen, who shrugged back.

"Guess not," she said.

" _Hmm…"_ Ben said, waggling his tail experimentally. " _I betcha this guy has super combat senses or somethin'. He's got claws, a wicked tail, and some crazy leg muscles!"_

The blue alien started kicking at the air, as if he were fighting in some over the top martial arts movie. He found, to his surprise, that he could easily maintain his balance, as well as the power of his kicks, without becoming quickly fatigued like he would have were he a human. So, it could kick. What was it, some kinda kangaroo thing?

"You said leg muscles?" Gwen said. Ben nodded. "Do you think its a runner?"

Something clicked in Ben's mind, and he grinned at her, showing a row of needle-y teeth, which made her a little grossed out. Luckily, they were quickly covered, as Ben closed the strange, shell-helmet with a quick, hissing sound. Then, he turned, dropping into a runner's lunge, and stretched out one leg, then the other, and then stayed down.

" _Alright. I'm gonna go to the edge of the freeway and back,"_ he said, pointing to the edge of the road..

Gwen followed his clawed finger. It was a long way. In his human form, Ben figured he could run there in back in a total of 5 minutes.

Something made him think he could beat that time with this blue alien's form.

"Ready?" Gwen said, sarcastically, enjoying her position as heckler and consultant. "Set?"

Beneath the mask, Ben rolled his eyes.

" _Don't blink,"_ he said, hoping that it sounded cool.

"Go!"

He was gone!

Ben's legs _moved!_ He was suddenly flying across the wide open grass faster than he had ever ran in his life. He took long, leaping strides, given further propulsion by the thick, grip-granting claws that protruded from his feet. His steps came out at lightning speed, and altogether it made for an exhilarating rush. As he broke into a sprint, Ben felt like he had just found the meaning of like, his heart(s?) pumping like a hummingbirds. The grass flew by beneath him, the wind rushed past his face, and would have made him squint if he didn't have the chitinous mask closed over his face. So, Ben thought, it functioned sort of like goggles after all. Before he knew it, Ben had reached the edge of the road, and as he leaned down to tap it with a front claw, he was startled by a car driving right in front of him!

Just barely scraping a piece of gravel on the edge of the road, Ben turned on the spot, and, as fast as he had come, began to dash back the opposite direction. As his black and blue form went whizzing back across the green expanse of grass, Ben's fear of being seen, and its repercussions, sent him into overdrive. He had estimated that, as a human, it would have taken him 5 minutes to make the run to the road and back.

Ben had done it in 45 seconds.

The family in the minivan, who were jamming out to a sing-along playlist, had not even noticed the blink of blue and black, and Ben now skidded to a halt in front of Gwen, his claws literally digging into the dirt and kicking up grass and soil as the forced his extreme velocity to come to a jagged halt. He wobbled a little, and realized as he kicked his tail out reflexively, that it was probably used for balance. Once he had stopped, he turned to Gwen, retracting the mask, and giving her a cocky, needle-toothed grin once more.

" _Looks like you were right,"_ he said. " _This guy can run!"_

"Told you so," Gwen said, though she was clearly impressed by the ridiculous speed at which Ben had moved. The boy hopped from foot to foot, giddy from the mach speed sprint, and ready for more.

" _What should I do next? Freeway again? Should I lap the whole field? Oh, man, should I, like, run to the nearest town?"_

"No!" Gwen said, "that's an awful idea!"

Ben paused. She was probably right. Grandpa had warned him not to do anything crazy, and to stay close to the camp. Plus, he had seen what happened to aliens when the government guys find them in the movies. He didn't want to get his hand chopped off, and he _really_ didn't want to get probed.

" _You're probably right,"_ he said.

"Again," Gwen said.

Ben grumbled. She made it so easy to let her be right.

" _I should really give these guys names,"_ he said.

Gwen snorted. Ben ignored her.

" _I already got a good one for that fiery alien. I'll call him Heatblast! Now, as for this guy…"_ He put a clawed finger up to his chin in thought. Gwen quirked her eyebrow. With the preceding name being "Heatblast", it was hard for her to picture the next one requiring so much contemplation. Eventually, the alien that was Ben put up a finger, signifying that he had come up with a winning idea. " _XLR8!"_

Gwen opened her mouth to say something, and then stopped herself, as she digested what he had said.

"I-... That's… Actually pretty clever, Ben," she said. "Like accelerate, right?"

" _Jokes aren't funny when you explain them,"_ Ben said, lifting his chin haughtily. Inside, however, he was proud of himself for impressing his cousin. It was a pride that made him feel complicated emotions; something that he, a 12 year old boy, was not accustomed to.

"Don't be such a jerk, that was a compliment!" Gwen said, not picking up in the subtler soft side of Ben, particularly not through the stoic visage of his alien form.

" _Whatever,"_ he said, " _why don't you read your stupid book and let me do the alien stuff."_

"Dude! What happened to me being right?" Gwen said. "You're such a turd!"

" _You're a turd,"_ was Ben's weak counter.

"Ugh. Spider-dweeb!"

" _Teacher's pet!"_

"Delinquent!"

There was a low, droning noise, and the green hourglass embedded in Ben's chest began to blink red, but he was so involved in his battle of jeers that he didn't pay it any heed.

" _What does that mean? Nerd, even your insults are nerdy!"_

"Delinquent is not a hard word, you imbecile," Gwen said.

There was a flash of green light.

"Hey, that one I know! You're the imbecile!" Ben said, stomping over to Gwen now that he had returned to his human form. "Don't make me give you a wet willy!"

"Ew, gross, get away!" Gwen squealed, picking up her book and jumping out of her chair.

Ben dashed towards her, but with a rush of dysphoria, realized that he no longer possessed superhuman speed, and as she sprinted away from him, he was easily left in the dust. He gave chase anyway, his pride wounded, and their encounter led them to the entrance of the R.V., where Max was in the middle of a phone call.

"- Uh, yeah. Yes. Just- Just tell them I'm looking for _Phil Billings,"_ the old man said. There was a pause. "He'll know me. Yes! Sure, I'll hold…"

As dull, tinny music began to play from his phone's poor quality speakers, Max groaned and pulled it away from his face, placing is on speaker and dropping it on the dashboard. Leaning back in his chair, he rubbed his face. He had made several calls, trying to get into contact with someone, _anyone,_ that might have some information on what they were dealing with. While he knew more about the situation than he led on, he knew far less than he would like, and it was beginning to wear on him. This was a world he had thought he had left behind.

"Grandpa! Ben said he was gonna give me a wet willy!" Came Gwen's voice, as she suddenly came running into view of the R.V. Ben was close on her tail.

"That's because she called me an imbecile and a delinguist!" Ben said.

"De _linquent,"_ Gwen corrected to him.

Max sighed.

"Hey, hey, enough, you two!" He said, as the corny music continued to play. "Now, I'm sick and tired of the two of you arguing! You're _family,._ for crying out loud. One day, you're gonna run out of people to turn to, and you'll need to have each other's backs."

The two kids fell silent at Max's sudden strict mentorship. He shook his head.

"Look, kids, this entire situation is really stressing me out, and I would appreciate it if you would just-"

" _Hello? Hello? Max?"_ Came a voice. The music, Max suddenly realized, had stopped, and had been replaced with somebody calling his name. Despite being warped by his awful phone service, and the confines of his speaker, the tone carried a tone that was familiar to Max, and sent a chill of nostalgia up his spine. " _Tennyson?"_

Max snatched up the communication device. He looked at it for a long moment, listening to the static-y breathing, before he steeled himself, and turned the phone off of speaker, bringing it up to his ear to speak into it.

"Hey, Phil," he said, "I could really use a favor."

* * *

For the rest of the day, Ben continued to try out new alien forms, slowly familiarizing himself with the basics of what they could do, and giving them each names. He didn't make it through all of them, due to the time constraint of the recharge function. After Max had finished his phone call, he had informed them that they would be leaving the next day, and making a bee line for their destination. Apparently, his old friend Phil was some kind of scientist, and was working at a base near Mount Rushmore. Max had assured them that, if anybody would know something about all of this, it was him.

So, Ben took advantage of the time remaining to him. However, as he became more comfortable with the operation and understanding of the watch, he was unaware of prying eyes from the woods nearby.

Perched high in the branches of a boughy evergreen was a man clad in crimson body armor. He wore a helmet that was heavily stylized to resemble the demonic masks that Japanese samurai wore, and at his belt were two strange, metal devices; they looked like the hilts of swords, however, no blades were present. With one hand he held the trunk of the tree to balance himself, and with the other, he held a pair of binoculars up to the viewport of his helmet.

He was watching Ben. The boy had taken on the form of some kind of four-armed behemoth, with muscular limbs, a double set of yellow eyes that glowed faintly, and bristly hair covering his body. He had clearly found that the alien form possessed immense strength, and as the silent red stranger watched, the youth stooped down, finding purchase on the big, rusty mobile home and, with a heave, lifting the entire R.V. up above his head. There was faint screaming, and the alien quickly brought the R.V. back down.

"Childish," the spy muttered.

A fraction of a second later, an old man came out of the vehicle, shouting at the alien, who, despite towering over the elderly man, flinched. The spy focused his binoculars on the chubby old man and his floral shirt, and realized, with only mild surprise, where he had remembered him from.

Satisfied, he stowed his binoculars, and pressed a button on his wrist, opening up a communications channel.

"Lord Driscoll," he said. "I've made an interesting discovery."


	8. Chapter 07

**Author's Note:** _Hey again! Welcome back to Ben 10: Origins! This chapter's a long one, so make sure to grab a snack and a drink and get comfy. If you're enjoying the story so far, I'd love to hear what you have to say! Do you like my portrayals of characters like Ben and Gwen? What do you think of the more alternative takes? What are you excited for in the future of Danger Watch, and what are your predictions? Be sure to let me know in the Comments._

_With that out of the way, enjoy the chapter!_

* * *

**Chapter 07**

For the next few days, the drive was mostly silent and grim. Grandpa Max had forbidden any use of the watch until they got to the base, and so, the two kids were back to reading. Max, meanwhile, was focused on the drive, and despite his old age, was up off of a gas station cold brew coffee, willing himself to drive just a few more miles, and then a few more after that, and then a few more after that. Time, he knew, was of the essence, as it was only a matter of such until more people came after the watch. If they had come for it once, they would come again.

Eventually, Max's stamina wore down. He had been speeding along the road, following the railroad tracks that he knew led towards the Black Hills, and Mount Rushmore. As a young man, he used to ride around the American countryside on a motorcycle, and he had fond memories of the area during summertime. Addled by thoughts of the past, and the hours of no sleep that were wearing him down, Max yawned, his eyes falling half-lidded, before he caught himself slightly swerving. Gwen, from the back, quirked a slender, orange eyebrow, but said nothing. For a moment, Max wagered staying on the road for the sake of time, but quickly dismissed the thought. He wouldn't risk his own poor judgement. He needed sleep.

The R.V. whined as it pulled out onto a poorly lit exit, the wheels jolting on the railroad tracks as they passed over them, which caused Ben and Gwen to bounce around comically. Ben, now pulled from the world of his comic book, looked out the window, and saw the grungy sign of the motel as it approached. It was a shabby, maroon building, with a tacky carving of some kind of bison or deer out front. It sat on the edge of a small town that was nestled on the other side of the railroad tracks. Ben wrinkled his nose.

"A _motel?"_ he said.

As the R.V. squealed to a stop, Max yawned.

"I know it's not the Ritz Carlton, but," he yawned yet again, "an old guy's gotta get some sleep."

Max had them wait in the R.V. while he went inside and arranged for a room, and as he left, Ben slumped his head dramatically against the window.

"I hate motels," he said, "they've got roaches and stinky sheets."

"Maybe this place will be nice," Gwen said, trying to remain optimistic. She was carefully putting together an overnight bag as she spoke.

Ben remained skeptical, and cast his gloomy gaze out across the parking lot. He saw a crusty looking old man smoking a cigarette, a pair of young goth women holding hands, and, briefly, the back of a young boy's head. It was shaggy and dark, and familiar…

"Alright, I got us a room," Max said, suddenly re-emerging at the cab of the R.V. "C'mon. We even got cable! And free ice!"

The kids walked out of the R.V., and Max fetched a bucket for ice before locking up the mobile home and led the kids up a flight rickety wooden stairs leading to the even more rickety wooden deck where the door to their room was located. Grandpa Max stopped at the door, key in hand, and let out a massive yawn, holding up an arm to shield his face. Then, he unlocked the door, and threw his backpack on one bed to claim it. There was only one more bed.

"Sharing a bed? Ew!" Ben said.

"Would you rather sleep on the floor with the roaches?" Gwen said. "Honestly? I'm weighing the pros and cons."

Ben stuck his tongue out at her, and she just turned and walked into room, dropping her overnight bag on the bed beside Max's. Ben followed, glancing around the room with a sigh. Obviously it wasn't exactly his idea of a lavish vacation spot, but he had at least expected the little private bathroom to be clean. Even a little clean. After locking the door, Max collapsed onto the bed with a loud groan of satisfaction.

"Ohh, yeah," the old man said with a sigh, "I'm not gettin' up."

"What about your ice, Grandpa?" Gwen mentioned off-handedly, not even looking up from the pages of her book. Max groaned and brought a hand up to his forehead.

"Oh, dang it!"

"I'll get it!" Ben said hastily, snatching the bucket off of the dresser and going to the door.

"Here, take the keys," Max said, handing them to the boy, "and don't doddle. Go to the ice machine and come right back/"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Ben said, slipping out of the door and closing it behind him. Eagerly, he dashed to the edge of the deck, glancing down at the dimly lit parking lot below. He looked around for that familiar kid.

Bingo.

Dropping the ice bucket with a _clattering_ noise, Ben dashed down the stairs of the old, wooden deck, and went running across the parking lot. Most of the other people had cleared off, but that shaggy haired kid was still there. As Ben's loud, running footsteps came towards him, the kid whipped round, revealing the boyish, harrowed face of Kevin. Ben stopped in his tracks upon seeing the boy, and then both of them grinned widely and fist bumped.

"Bro!" Ben said.

"Bro," Kevin agreed.

"I can't believe we met up again!" Ben said.

"Yeah," the dark haired boy said, "crazy."

He looked down, apparently embarrassed, but then his expression changed to curiosity as he glanced at the device on Ben's wrist.

"Woah, woah," he said, taking a step forward to clear the gap between them, "what is _that?"_

Ben glanced down. He had nearly forgotten about the watch.

"Oh, right," he said, tilting his chin up as a proud smile began to creep at the corners of his stoic façade, "I suppose it's only fair I tell you. After all, you shared your secret with me."

Kevin's eyes widened.

"No way," he said. Then, hushedly, he added: "You got a superpower?"

Ben, acknowledging that Kevin had used the word 'superpower' before he did, closed his eyes to mask his mirth.

"Oh, yeah," he said. "Wanna see?"

Kevin glanced over his shoulder, at the lights the glowed dimly through the off-yellow blinds of the motel. Then, he turned back to Ben, before slipping his hands in his pockets and jerking his chin off down the road, toward a nearby parking garage for the corporate business H.Q. that was a few away.

"Not here," he said, starting to walk, "follow me."

Ben hesitated, and Kevin turned around, taking note. It was his turn to grin, darkly.

"Unless you're chicken," he said.

That was the kicker. Ben glanced once at the light that was shining through his grandfather and cousin's motel room, and then turned back to Kevin, nodding with something like confidence before following him into the night.

* * *

From their vantage point in the ship, the bounty hunters were able to keep a close watch on the entire area. They had been given coordinates by Vilgax upon returning to meet him on the moon of Earth, and now were following the strongest source of energy on the planet. There was only one thing that even came close, and that was deep beneath the crust of the planet. Most likely, the Earth's core. The energy signature brought them to what appeared to be a human city. They brought the ship to a slow above the cloud layer. They could not risk being seen. The entire solar system agreed that the less humans that made it to space, the better and they were clearly fast learners.

Luckily, they were also big dummies, Tetrax thought to herself, as she pressed a button on the dashboard of the ship. She smiled to herself as she felt the familiar hum of the cloaking engine roar to life. There was a quick flash of light as the gem retrieved some kind of stretchy, metallic band from her forehead, and began to tie her mass of dark hair into a tight bun. From the seat behind her and to the right, the bronze alien known as Kraab piped up for the first time since Jupiter.

" _Kinda funny that we were all gettin' drinks at the same time, huh?"_ He said. " _Seeing as… ya know."_

The alien warrior in purple, who still wore his mask, turned to look at Kraab, impossible to read, as always.

"What?" He said. It was hard to tell if it was genuine curiosity or pretentious feigned ignorance.

"You mean how we all used to be P.O.W.'s on this rock?" Tetrax said, spinning around her captains chair to face her comrades as she set the ship to hover just above the city skyline. The purple warrior turned his faceless gaze to her now, and Kraab nodded enthusiastically, pointing to Tetrax with his big claw.

" _Yeah, exactly, it's kinda like… fate,"_ he said. Tetrax rolled her eyes. " _By the way. I know it'd be great to finally get things squared away with him, but do we really think we can trust Vilgax to follow through?"_

Tetrax raised an eyebrow, and the masked warrior turned to Kraab now.

"That's uncharacteristically introspective of you," The warrior said. He once again turned his creepy mask to Tetrax, who wrinkled her nose. She didn't like that he wore that thing all the time, but it was his people's credo, so she never said anything. It did weird her out to talk to something with no face, though. "He's right though. You can't trust a Chimera Sui Generi."

" _Especially not this one,"_ Kraab said.

"Ugh," Tetrax said, "you two are agreeing? Something must be up. Damn, and just when I thought this would be an easy mission."

"I suspected as much when our courier mentioned the stature of our quarry," the armored warrior said. Tetrax made a face at him. "It seemed far too simple. A human _boy_ with a piece of tech he has no idea how to use? Surely a band of trained gem soldiers should have been able to handle that. With drones for back up, no less.

"O.K., SixSix, l get your point," the tektite said. She steepled her fingers. "Obviously there are some unknowns we are dealing with here. Vilgax was pretty tight-lipped about this tech he wants, which doesn't exactly help us know what we're up against."

" _He called it a "shapechanging device","_ Kraab said.

"He said _essentially_ a shapechanging device," SixSix added. "There may be more to it than that."

"Have you ever seen something like that?" Tetrax asked.

"A shapechanger? No," SixSix said. "Plenty of illusions, holographic disguises, sure, but I've yet to see something that can produce the full transformation without somehow affecting or even losing the original form."

Tetrax hummed. As a gem, she could shapeshift naturally, but that was because her body was merely a hard-light manifestation of her consciousness. The thought of a flesh and bone being transforming into other _things_ was a little… Meaty, was the word that crossed her mind. The three of them sat in silence for a few moments longer, until Kraab impatiently got up from his seat, and began to stretch his claw.

" _Well, whatever it is, I say we just get to the part where we yank it off the kid already,"_ He said. " _It's dark. Most of the humans will be sleeping. Shard could sneak in through a window or something, they'd never even know."_

Tetrax raised an eyebrow. It could almost work. Unless this thing had some kind of bio-lock, in which case, she would be down a black hole with no thrusters. She shook her head. Kraab was right. They were losing precious hours of darkness. Even with its advanced cloaking, human tech was starting to reach dangerous levels. If enough smartphones caught video of the ship with enough interference, it was possible it would show up on even their primitive video. They couldn't have that.

"Energy signature is moving," SixSix said suddenly, glancing at a handheld device that Vilgax had given him. Tetrax didn't hesitate.

"Right," she said, spinning back around and sending her ash-grey fingers flying across the controls. "I'll have the ship drop us on a rooftop. Then I'll have it hover and we can prepare an ambush."

" _That's more like it!"_ Kraab said, as the sleek, half-disc shaped spacecraft dipped down and sideways, coming to a low hover above one of the tallest buildings in the quaint little down.

One by one, the crew made the small jump, landing (with the exception of Kraab) quietly. Then, Tetrax pressed a button on a device on her hip, and the ship closed its exit hatch and re-cloaked, before vanishing into the night air, leaving the alien bounty hunters alone on the rooftop. The wind blew, warm with this planet's summer, and for a moment, Tetrax smiled. She liked Earth, despite the bad memories and mojo surrounding the place. It had some beautiful weather.

Although, she thought, as she breathed in a rank bit of exhaust from a nearby sewage plant, it might become too warm soon if the human's didn't fix their energy systems. How ironic it would be for the planet to survive gem colonization only to be destroyed by its own denizens. SixSix kept his gaze on the tracking device, and as it continued to blip, he suddenly held up a hand to get his associate's attention.

"There," he said. He tapped his ear, signifying that they should go comms only.

Tetrax nodded, and donned her helmet (the reason she had tucked up her hair.) After a few seconds, a heads up display appeared, showing off various read-outs in Gem Glyph, the script she had been programmed to write on Homeworld. She hated it, and she was using the latest translation apps to learn other languages. It was a silly thing, but she felt like it was a part of her slow, painful severance from the life she used to lead.

" _See them?"_ Came SixSix's voice, humming in the tektite's "ears" (she had none.)

" _Yeah,"_ Tetrax said, coming over to crouch on the lip of the building. Her helmet zoomed in slightly on a pair of youths that were walking down the sidewalk. One of them was grungy and raggedy looking, with long ratty hair and tired eyes. He was talking animatedly with the other boy, a plain-looking child his age, with brown hair and an unassuming look about him.

Lastly, she spotted the device they were after. It was clearly not made on this planet. Nobody on Earth possessed the knowledge necessary, not even the rebel gems she knew lay hidden here. It had an odd, biomechanical look it, almost like the sheen on Kraab's chitin. Tetrax grimaced. She had never seen anything like it before. It almost looked like a wrist-computer, but a very simple one. Whatever it was, it couldn't be more clear that this was indeed what Vilgax was after, and that it was the topic of conversation between the two humans.

" _They're so puny,"_ Kraab said, scuttling up behind Tetrax. " _Let's just go down and squash 'em."_

" _How many shots do you think it would take?"_ SixSix wondered, his extra, mechanical arms producing handheld blasters, and training them on the two children.

Tetrax's gut wrenched.

" _Woah, hey!"_ She said, stepping forward and putting a firm hand on the purple warrior's chest. " _They're kids. We just want the device."_

SixSix snorted in her ear, and though they both wore masks, the purple bounty hunter had no trouble expressing his emotions. The arms holstered their weapons, and he kept his face locked in her direction as he spoke.

" _Don't tell me you're getting sympathetic for these worthless chimps,"_ SixSix said. " _If you botch this like you did on Tethys, it's on your gem."_

" _Yeah, I'd rather not take the heat from Vilgax,"_ Kraab said. " _Business first, Shard. If you're gettin' queasy about it then hang back and let us take care of the job."_

" _No!"_ Tetrax said quickly. The air hung with tension for a moment, as the power balance of the mission started to shift drastically. " _Let's just… Not get ourselves killed. Or the other kid, if we don't have to. Remember, this guy took out a squadron of war drones on top of a team of gem soldiers."_

" _You're overthinking it,"_ SixSix said, crossing his main arms.

" _Well, maybe I'm a little on edge, because the last time we came here wasn't exactly pretty!"_

" _Congratulations, you two, they just got away,"_ Kraab said, gesturing down the stretch of shadowy alley-ways that the kids had vanished into with his claw. " _Can we drop the ego battle for like 10 minutes and finish this bounty?"_

Again, tense silence, but they all agreed. They turned to move for the next rooftop, but to their surprise, as they walked, the ground in front of them suddenly shot up with light and sparks. The trio reared back, and as the initial wave of confusion and distraction vanished, they found themselves staring at a figure in the darkness.

He was tall, and clad in some kind of red armor that was clearly ahead of Earth's modern tech. He had a gargoyleish, fanged mask, and he stood stoically between them and the direction they needed to go to keep up with their quarry. With a crackling noise, the red-armored warrior produced a disk of yellow energy between his forefinger and middle finger, holding it up. Not as a threat, but as a warning.

"The artifact belongs to us, off-worlders," he said simply. "I suggest you be on your way."

* * *

"No way! How many?"

"10," Ben said, "I think."

He had just finished explaining how the watch worked, and telling the story of how he had encountered it, to Kevin, who seemed boyishly excited about it.

"Wicked," the dark haired boy said.

"I know, right? And what are the odds that we a few _days_ after we met, I found the watch!" Ben said.

They both agreed. It was pretty trippy. Like, cosmic alien space destiny trippy. That made the air a little awkward, as both of them imagined existential horrors that might be tied to such a fate. Kevin, however, quickly shook it off, and gestured to the glowing green hourglass that was lighting up the entire parking garage.

"Well?" He said. "Show me one."

Ben suddenly felt Max had expressly forbade the use of the watch until they had found his friend. However, in Ben's eyes, space destiny kind of beat out Grandpa's rules. Just by a little. He tried to match his friends eager grin, and as he looked down at the watch, it made its signature _deedle-beep_ noise, and the cylindrical button popped out, revealing the shadowy silhouette of a flaming alien. Twisting the button, Ben decided that Heatblast was a bit too dangerous and obvious, and, after much contemplation on who was the coolest, decided to show off Four-Arms, the red-skinned behemoth that he had used to lift the entire R.V. back at camp. Once the multi-armed alien's shadow was in view, Ben slammed his hand down on the button, and there was a flash of light.

"Four-Arms!" Ben said, expecting his voice to come out deep and gravelly. To his surprise, while still gravelly, his voice carried more of an effeminate ring to it. As he glanced down, he realized that his skin was a deep lilac, and not the brick crimson that he knew Four-Arms possessed. He was wearing some kind of strange, meshed outfit that was practically a part of his body. With a sigh, he reached up, and, just as he suspected, found the smooth form of the hourglass nestled into his forehead. Somehow, he knew, there was supposed to be a gemstone there. However, as he had learned, the watch always found a way to tack itself onto his alien forms. Usually, it was as some kind of chest beacon. Sometimes, it appeared in other places. Like here, for instance, where it manifested in the middle of his forehead.

"Woah," Kevin said, looking Ben's new form up and down. He had long, thick, white hair, and yellowish eyes that were smoky like he had natural mascara. While muscular and androgynous, there was no doubt a strong feminine aura about this new form of his… He was also well over 6 feet tall, and towered over Kevin now. The dark haired boy ogled for a moment, and then looked confused. "Wait, why is it named Four-Arms?"

"I, uh, think I hit the wrong button," Ben said. "This is Diamondhead."

"Why is she a chick?" Kevin asked. Ben squinted at him.

"Honestly, I don't feel like much of a boy _or_ a girl," the lavender alien said. Then, she shrugged. "I dunno."

"Doesn't matter. What kinda cool stuff can she do?" Kevin asked. He was clearly getting fired up over the situation, and his eyes glinted in what little night the parking garage has to offer.

"Well, mostly, she's just really tough," Ben said, "although, I can do this thing where I spin around in a ball."

"That's cool, I guess," Kevin said, seemingly disappointed. He pointed up at the green hourglass in his forehead. "Do another one! I wanna see the fire guy, or that big hairy one!"

Ben rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Uh, yeah, that's kinda the thing…" the alien that was human said. "The transformation lasts for a few minutes and then turns off on its own. Then, there's a cooldown before I can use it again.""

"Aw, man," Kevin said, "that blows."

"Tell me about it!"

"How cool would it be if you could just shift between monsters like," Kevin snapped his fingers, "that!"

"Aliens," Ben corrected.

"Whatever. How cool?" Kevin said. Ben nodded in agreement.

"That would be cool," he said.

The dark haired boy glanced up at the hulking purple alien, and, sensing his shame over the downsides of his power, rubbed his wrist.

"Alright," he said, glancing away and then up at Ben, "my turn."

Ben looked to him with excitement.

"Is there more?" He asked. Kevin grinned wryly.

"Yeah," he said, "a lot more."

The dark haired boy walked over to the nearest concrete column, and pressed his open palm against it. As Ben watched, Kevin's finger-tips began to take on the exact same color and texture as the pillar he was pressing. Then, the pattern overtook his entire hand, and even went up, covering a chunk of his wrist and forearm. Ben, as the lavender alien, watched eagerly, as Kevin retracted his hand, flexing his newly concrete digits. Despite apparently being made from mixed stone, they were as flexible as they had been before.

"Woah," Ben said.

"Yeah, heh, I can uh- Absorb stuff. I can take it on, or I can send it back out, like with energies and stuff. I have not tried taking on the energy… Sounds like I'd turn into spaghetti or somethin', ya know? Anyway, I can't do the full body thing like you. It takes a lot out of me sometimes to keep even this much stone. Plus, there's boatloads of concrete here."

:"It's still super cool! You're like, the Absorbing Kid," The alien that was Ben said. Kevin snorted at the name.

"O.K., well, then you're like… Ben 10," he said. It was all he could come up with.

"Hey, that actually kinda works. Like, cuz, my last name is Tennyson."

"It is? Woah, weird coincidence. I just made that up cuz you got 10 aliens in that thing," Kevin said, gesturing to the watch's symbol in Ben's forehead. "That reminds me. This one-you called it Diamondhead?- Just how tough is it?"

"Pretty tough," Ben said. He hadn't really been able to find out what Diamondhead's strengths and weaknesses were yet, with the limited time he had been her at the campsite. However, he knew that, she had broken several of Max's tools when Ben had told Gwen to wail on him.

"Wanna test that?" Kevin said, bouncing his stony fist in his other, more fleshy, palm. He had a competitive fire in his eyes. Ben glanced around the empty parking garage. There were a few cars parked, high above them, but none on the level they were talking on.

"I don't know…" Ben said, brushing some fluffy white hair out of his face. "Should we really have a super fight right now? I'm kind of trying to keep a low profile until I know more about the watch."

Kevin raised an eyebrow. Then, with a shrug, he released the stone from his fist, returning it to normal. Something like a victorious smile tugged at his cheeks. Ben furrowed his brows, but before he could say anything further, there was a sudden, low, droning sound. Kevin glanced up at Ben's forehead, and through the dark haired boy's eyes, he could see the hourglass symbol flashing red. Ben groaned.

There was a flash of green light, and the young human boy had returned, standing where the significantly more formidable purple alien had just been. This left Kevin with a faint sense of spatial displacement, which he quickly shook off. He looked down at the watch, which was now a low, steady red color.

"That's it, huh?" Kevin said. "A couple minutes of showtime and then back to normal?"

"Heh, yeah," Ben said, "that's the tradeoff for being totally awesome, I guess."

"Damn," Kevin muttered, looking over his shoulder at nothing in particular. "I really wanna see another one before I catch my tra- I mean, before I gotta go back to my parent's room."

Ben looked sympathetic, holding up the wrist that bore the recharging watch..

"Heh, sorry, man," he said. "It usually takes a while to turn green again."

Kevin took a step forward, his eyes set on watch.

"Maybe if I-"

"Hey," Ben said, taking a step back. Kevin kept advancing, reaching for the watch as he came on.

"Just let me-"

"Stop!"

"I just-"

"Kevin!"

Kevin's fingers touched the face of the watch, and for a brief second, nothing happened. Ben, who had been trying to wriggle away from Kevin, froze, as did Kevin, who had been lunging for the watch, and was now looking at it, his eyebrows furrowed. Then, the dark haired boy's eyes widened.

"What the-"

_bWO-OM!_

Suddenly, there was a quick, concussive burst of energy, and a small dome of green light, came blasting out from the watch. Ben was sent sprawling onto his back on the pavement, and Kevin was blasted backwards across the parking garage, rolling end over end before coming to a crumpled stop, several meters away. Both of them laid there, stunned, for a while. Ben was the first to recover. Pulling himself up to standing, he walked over to kneel beside Kevin, rolling him over.

"Hey," Ben said, "Kevin, you O.K?"

Kevin shoved Ben away, and dragged himself to a sitting position. He sat there for a moment, rubbed the side of his head, and then stood up. Ben tried to approach him and make sure everything as alright, but the dark haired boy continued to keep him at a distance. He wouldn't even look him in the eyes. Ben looked hurt.

"Kevin… I'm sorry," Ben said.

Kevin laughed, shaking his head.

"Nah, don't be, man," he said. Ben looked at him, confused, and Kevin sighed. "Look. I gotta get going. That, uh, blast gave me a headache. I'm gonna try to sleep it off."

Ben nodded.

"Yeah… Sure," he said.

Kevin began to walk off, not in the direction of the motel. Ben wasn't sure whether to say anything, and opted not to. However, as he watched his friend(?) go, he remembered something with a jolt. He went jogging up behind Kevin, as the two of them approached the exit that took them to the street. There was a faint, orange glow from Kevin's hand, like he was holding a lighter. As Ben came up suddenly behind him, the other boy whipped around, eyes frantic, looking from Ben to his hand. Ben looked to the source of Kevin's confusion.

His hand was on fire.

"What the heck?" Kevin said.

"No way…" Ben said under his breath.

"Did I-?" Kevin started to say.

"I don't even-" Ben started to say at the same time.

Neither of them was able to finish however, as, they were cut off by a loud slicing noise, and then a rush of air. They both looked up on instinct, and saw an enormous shape plummeting out of the sky. They both took large steps back as, with a huge, crashing noise, a giant, bronze, crab monster crash-landed on the pavement in front of them.


	9. Chapter 08

**Author's Note:** _Hey again! Welcome back to another (late night) update of Ben 10: Origins. I'm loving all of the hype! We're getting close to the climax of Ben's story. If you've been tagging along since the beginning of the story, thank you so much! If you've been tagging along since Jake Long, you're a real one. And of course, even if you just discovered me and my little project, I just want to say thank you so much for tuning in. I love being able to share these crazy stories with y'all! Be sure to let me know how long you've been reading!_

_Enjoy the chapter!_

* * *

**Chapter 08**

As the monster pulled itself up from the smaller crater it had made upon impact, rubble falling off of it's hulking exoskeleton, it shook its head, and tried to get it's bearings. It spotted the two kids, and, seeming to recognize them, started to scuttle towards them, its one, huge claw reaching out to grab at Ben. As he did, however, there was a whizzing sound, and then with three separate impacts, three glowing, discs of energy had embedded themselves halfway into the bronze claw. There a beat, and then the projectile blew up, sending the crab monster reeling, though relatively unscathed it seemed. The source of the discs was soon apparent, as, from a nearby rooftop, a man in hi-tech red armor came leaping down, landing between the monster and the kids. He wore a haunting mask that bore the visage of some kind of demon.

He didn't look like he was there to protect them.

"Ben!" Kevin said, bolting off down the road and calling back to his friend. Ben turned, a second later, and then took off in a sprint after him. The two, strange combatants seemed to be focused on each other, but unbeknownst to the kids, both took note of which direction they were running.

As they were running back towards the motel, a pair of figures came dashing out from an alleyway ahead of them. The men were clad in similar armor to the man in red, but theirs was more uniform, with a chrome-and-black aesthetic. At their sides they seemed to carry ornate swords. They wore strange masks as well, and they carried heavy guns. They seemed to be running from something. Then, there were two distinct _phew-phew_ noises, and twin bolts of purple energy came flying out of the alleyway, connecting with the square of the first man's back, and the back of the second man's knee. Both went down on the pavement, guns clattering away from their grip.

Grinding to a halt, Kevin swooped down and scooped up one of the huge guns, grunting at the weight, and turned to Ben.

"Can you shoot a gun?"

" _What?"_ Ben asked.

"Your thingie's on cooldown, right? It looks like the government or whoever is finally coming after me. Or maybe it's you. Either way, you have to defend yourself," Kevin said, holding the heavy, black weapon out to Ben, who took it, reluctantly, and glanced down at his hands. The gun-metal was heavy. He didn't like how it felt.

" _How quaint,"_ a voice from the alley said. " _Do you know how to operate that, chimpling shapechanger?"_

The two spun to look at the approaching figure, the third to present himself from the alleyway. He was muscle-bound and dangerous looking, wearing purple armor that seemed cobbled together from various different styles. He held out two, sleek pistols, that were clearly hi-tech and alien, and the extra pair of arms that were mounted on his shoulders held a matching pair. All four were trained on Ben.

"Look's like its you," Kevin muttered, clutching his flaming fist. The masked figure before them turned his unsettling, eyeless gaze on the dark-haired boy, who winced under the inspection.

" _And this? What are you, part pyronite?"_ The being said, gesturing slightly with one of his many guns, training it on Kevin in the process.

There was a sudden sound of battle cries and rushing boots, and several rounds of laser fire. Yet another gun was turned and trained down the alley, leaving only two on Ben. They couldn't see down the shadowy alleyway, but moments later, the sounds of combat ceased all too quickly, as one side's cries died out. Then, a single pair of bootsteps echoed down the alleyway, and a shapely, dangerous looking person in black and grey armor appeared, brandishing a pistol and what looked like one of the swords worn by the armored men. To the kids' surprise, this newcomer walked over casually to stand beside the purple one.

" _They're a human organization,"_ the purple warrior said as they approached. They hummed, and looked over the two kids, who were standing, trembling with anger, in the middle of the street of this small city.

" _I know,"_ the person (apparently female) who had just arrived said. " _What, you thought they were legitimate Akiridions? That armor is makeshift at best. Shoddy at worst."_

" _Akiridion? I was positive those were Galra shoulder-pads,"_ the purple warrior said curiously.

"It's a bit of both, actually," came a new voice. Kevin glanced over his shoulder and groaned. Ben, who was holding the gun towards the menacing pair in some desperate attempt to keep them at bay, looked over to him.

"Aw, come on."

"What?"

"More silver guys," Kevin muttered, as an entire squadron (nearly a dozen) of men in chrome armor arrived. They were lead by the man in crimson armor from before, and between them they carried a massive, tied-up prisoner: the bronze crab from before. They trains their weapons on the two armored people. At a gesture from the red warrior, his soldiers dropped the alien unceremoniously. The resulting crash made Ben jump a bit, his nerves were so on end.

He swore he heard a mirthful chuckle coming from the purple warrior's helmet.

"The artifact is ours," the voice of the red warrior said, folding his arms and placing a boot on the back the bronze crab. "Leave it to us, and we will return your comrade."

It didn't seem to phase the other two.

" _What, Kraab?"_ The grey-ish black warrior said, with a shrug. " _Go ahead."_

" _You'd be doing me a favor, actually,"_ the one in purple said.

" _Hey!"_ The crab, apparently named Kraab, said from the ground. A stiff foot silenced him.

"Don't be foolish," the red armored man continued from behind his demonic mask, "our Organization has no trifle with bounty hunters. You would be wise not to gain the ire of my master."

" _What makes you so confident that you want_ our… _ire?"_ The armored woman said, hesitating on the final word. " _I'll have you know we are rather well known for our skills. Particularly SixSix here. Do you want to know how he got his name?"_

"She's stalling," a random, masked foot soldier said. The red warrior shook his head.

"I have no time for-" He began to say.

" _We were stuck on this planet, once. I know, hard to believe, but it's true. While we were, ol' SixSix here? Well. He killed 66 of the planet's most elite soldiers. Armed, like you, with tech that didn't belong to them. By himself."_

An uncomfortable stir rippled through the group of soldiers as she spoke. Their leader didn't budge, however. In fact, there was a quiet, low, chuckle that seemed to start from behind his mask, and slowly grow louder and louder, until his shoulders were shaking. Then, abruptly, the laughter cut off, and he drew a crackling, vibrating sword of yellow energy.

"Even if I believed your story," the commander said, "nothing would change. I do not fear you. My offer stands but a moment longer. You will turn the artifact over to us, or you will feel the complete and utter wrath of the Forever Kni-"

_Bee-Bee-Bee-BEEP-BEEP! Bee-Bee-Bee-BEEP-BEEP! Be-be, be-be, be-be, bee!_

The sound of a novelty car horn suddenly cut him off mid-sentence. From behind the bounty hunters, a pair of headlights suddenly flashed on, and the roaring engine of a mobile home was suddenly tearing down the road towards them. Though the lights were blinding, and Ben couldn't see the vehicle, he recognized the sound of the horn.

The two free bounty hunters jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding the rampaging front of the large vehicle. Milliseconds behind them, Kevin and Ben dove to opposite sides, also just getting out of the way. Unfortunately for the bulk of the armored soldiers, they were not so quick. There was a heavy, metal, slamming sound, and several muffled cries of pain, as they were suddenly hit with several tons of moving metal.

As Ben picked himself up on the ground, he blinked to readjust to the darkness, and saw the four-armed, purple clad warrior doing the same. As they took note of each other, the bounty hunter wasted no time, drawing a pair of short, wicked blades with his extra arms.

" _Tetrax doesn't want to kill you. I don't care. I wonder how long it will take you to bleed out when I take your hand, and the shapechanger with it."_

_BLAM! BLAM!_

Two loud, ballistic shots rang out in the air. The warrior stopped, shouting in pain, and sparks began to fly off of his shoulders. This was because, Ben realized, something had blasted the second pair of arms off. They must have been mechanical, because they left sparking wires where they had been. Spinning around in confusion, Ben took note of the side of the R.V. Where there had once been a hanging kayak, there was now a large, side-mounted gun of some kind, it's barrel smoking. While bewhildered, Ben shook his head, finding his feet and scrambling away from the temporarily disabled bounty hunter.

"Ben!"

Grandpa Max. He had stuck his head and arm out of the window of the R.V, and was waving at him.

"Get in!"

"Wait!" Ben said. The armored men were recovering, and while the red-clad leader was nowhere to be seen, the hulking, armored crab creature was pulling itself up to newfound freedom. While it might have been assigned to the same mission as its comrades, it seemed to have abandoned any thought of that. It's eyes, reflective, red, and slightly emanating in the night, honed in on the now scattering soldiers.

" _Now you done it, you bunch of human A-holes!"_ Came the crab's tinny voice. Though, to Ben, it sounded like monstrous chittering. It pointed it's huge claw at one of the chrome warriors, and there was a huge, discharging noise as a bolt of yellowish-orange energy came flying out, colliding with and melting the flashy armor the man wore, and sending him crumpling to the asphalt. A few of the downed man's brothers-in-arms turned to see him go down, and began to return fire. A running shoot-out began as the bronze alien scuttled after them.

Ben glanced down at his wrist. The hourglass was still red. Crap. Dashing past the front of the R.V., he went to try and find Kevin, hoping that the other bounty hunter had not gone after him. As he rounded the large cab of the mobile home, the door flung open, and he was met with Max's stern glare.

"Get. IN. We're going!"

Ben ignored him.

"Kevin!" He called out, spotting the boy nearby on the ground.

Ben dashed to his friend, helping him up, just as the female bounty hunter started making her way towards them. She had her gun drawn, the helmet honed in on the two of them, but the way she held herself was far less saturated with deadly intent then her purple companion. As she walked forward, Kevin tried to push himself in front of Ben. The brown-haired boy resisted.

"What are you doing?" He said.

"Move," Kevin said curtly, shoving Ben aside.

Then, his hand (that one that had taken on the molten appearance) began to glow, emanating heat and creating a low, roaring noise. Ben's eyes widened, and the bounty hunter seemed to pause. That brief moment was all that Kevin needed. Shoving his hand forward, he gave a grunt of exertion, and shot a beam of fire at the ground between the two boys and their would-be captor, scorching a line between them that held her off.

"Woah," Ben said. "That's Heatblast! You absorbed my power!"

Kevin turned his wrist once or twice, looking down at this blazing hand of his. The reflection of the fire burnt in his eyes, and slowly, a wicked smile crept across his pallid face.

"Yeah…" he said.

" _Don't make it difficult, kid,"_ the bounty hunter suddenly said from behind the crackling barrier. " _I only want the device. You don't have to get hurt."_

Kevin turned to look at her, the smile disappearing. He hated being called kid, and more than that, he hated being told to mind his own business when it was _clearly_ his business. Gaining some machismo with his newfound ability, Kevin shrugged his other shoulder, and both arms began to burn with molten fire up to the bicep. The dark haired boy shook his head.

"Nah," he said. "You mess with him, you mess with me."

"Ben!"

"Go," Kevin said over his shoulder as Max called once again from the cab of the R.V. Several more heavy calliber gunshots were fired from the weapon mounted on the old machine, and the firefight between Kraab and the soldiers was growing distant as it wound its way through the alleys. "I'll cover you."

"What? No, come with!" Ben said.

Kevin laughed a little, and as the bounty hunter in grey stepped forward, swiping away the fire with some kind of energy baton, he threw down another line, this one closer, which forced her to throw up her arms and take a few paces back..

"No way, man," the dark haired boy said.

Ben looked shocked. Then, he shook his head, taking on a more annoyed look.

"Whatever. Then, I'll stay, too."

"Get over yourself, Ben," Kevin said, still facing down the bounty hunter. "Look, you and your gramps'll only get in the way. You still can't transform again yet, remember?"

Ben glanced down at the watch, and groaned internally. It was _still_ red! Then, he looked to the old R.V., and then finally, to Kevin.

"What about you?"

Kevin looked back over his shoulder, and that wicked grin had returned. As Ben watched, his shoulders, right where the flames ended, started to change, growing heavier, and thick with some kind of wild orange fur. His smiling teeth began to elongate and formed fangs.

"I don't have that problem."

As the bounty hunter bravely charged through the flames once more, she was met with the pouncing, deadly, two ton form of a juvenile vulpimancer, with flaming claws, flaring gills, and no eyes to speak of. It was a beast she was quite familiar with, though she had never seen one with claws that burned like a pyronite. The shock of the attack gave Kevin, in his new form, enough time to take her to the ground, and begin gnawing on her thick, nigh-impenetrable armor. He wouldn't find flesh that way, but his sheer weight was enough to keep her down for a few crucial moments.

Ben, who had just witnessed his friend transforming partway into Wildmutt, a huge, orange beast that he had only temporarily taken the helm of. He hardly remembered his time as Wildmutt, it was a rush of sensations, but he knew one thing. Gwen and Max had warned him never to use that transformation again.

Now Ben saw why.

As he watched the monster that was Kevin tear into the bounty hunter, Ben heard the signature chime that meant the watch was back online.

However, before he could do anything, he was suddenly snatched up from behind! The boy struggled, but whoever had picked him up had burly, powerful arms, and fight them as he did, he couldn't break free with his underdeveloped muscles. Panicking, Ben tried to reach his hand over to his wrist, but found his arms pinned to his sides. In one last, desperate attempt, Ben leaned down and took a huge chomp on his captor's arm. To his surprise, he heard a familiar, human, grunt of pain.

"Ouch- Quit it!" Max said, as he hauled his grandson into the R.V., "We have to go! No more arguing."

"But-"

"I mean it!" Max said. There was suddenly a powerful, commanding presence to his voice that made even Ben question defiance. As he was placed in the aisle of the R.V. and the door closed behind him, the boy looked to his grandfather, who bore a dead-set, determined expression.

He decided that he would listen.

He found a seat next to a terrified looking Gwen, and the two of them pressed tightly together in the seat. Neither of them made eye contact, but they slipped their hands into each other's. They were, after all, scared children surrounded by things they didn't understand. As Max hit the gas, and they peeled down the road, Ben caught a glimpse of Kevin. The grey-armored bounty hunter was nowhere to be seen, and he was now being brought down under the weight of the chrome armored soldiers, who had reappeared, apparently after losing the crab monster.

The last thing Ben saw of Kevin was when the commander in red drew his sword.


	10. Chapter 09

**Author's Note:** _Hello, and welcome to the penultimate chapter of Ben 10: Origins! I hope you've been enjoying the twists and turns of the story so far. Like always, I'll be posting an Epilogue, as well as some post-credits scenes after the final chapter, so stick around for that. Again, I just wanna say I'm blown away by the support for the series so far. I hope to keep bringing you guys awesome content!_

_Without further ado, let's just right in!_

* * *

**Chapter 09**

In the night sky above the a rolling hillscape, three blazing dots could be seen, like huge fireflies or shooting stars. Getting closer would reveal these dots to be the flames emitted by a trio of jetpacks. These jetpacks belonged to Kraab, SixSix, and Tetrax Shard. As they rocketed through the clouds, SixSix was muttering a constant string of foul words in his language. He had retracted his cybernetic arms for now, but was clearly furious over their destruction. He had barely spoken a word aloud.

Tetrax, as she flew, checked the energy signature on her wrist computer. As she had suspected, it was moving even further North-West. The predictive GPS on her wrist-com was exceptional. Thanks, Homeworld. Putting up a hand to the side of her helmet, she spoke, addressing both of her comrades.

" _They'll be on the road for a while_ ," she said.

She let the comment hang in the air, in case either of the boys wanted to say anything. SixSix had paused in his cursing to let her speak, but now returned to his murmuring. Tetrax turned her head over to look at Kraab, who, aside from a few scrapes, hardly looked like he had been in a fight at all. The bronze alien kept his strange face aimed towards their direction of flight, but after a beat, he spoke.

" _Who were those guys?_ "

There it was, the question they had all been wondering. What had started as a straightforward mission had quickly evolved into something far more complicated and dangerous. First, there was the masked strange with the red alien tech, cobbled together from various different factions from across the _universe._ How had he gotten such tech? How did he fight the way he did? On top of that, he came accompanied by a squadron of backup, also armed to the teeth with tech they had no business possessing.

And if that weren't bad enough, they weren't even the strangest humans to surprise the trio that night. After the arrival of the self proclaimed 'Forever Knights', and the battle that ensued, an _elderly human driving a motor home_ had crashed into the scene. Oh, and the R.V. had a _huge gun_ on the side of it. Then, after he had nearly dispatched SixSix, the _other_ human child began to shapechange before their very eyes, wielding the powers of a pyronite and a vulpimancer at once! Needlessly to say, it had become something of a disaster, and they were now flying by the seats of their collective pants, trying to salvage the bounty.

" _I don't know who they were,"_ Tetrax said, " _and frankly, I don't care. What I want to know is: how did they get their hands on that tech?"_

" _I hate this miserable planet,"_ SixSix said. " _Every time I come here, it's something miserable. Damn the whole place. The gems should have-"_

Tetrax suddenly stopped, twisting in mid-air to catch SixSix by the collar of his uniform. He gave a grunt of surprise that came through the comms, and the two helmet-wearing aliens held an aerial stare-down for a long moment.

" _Go ahead, 'Six,"_ Tetrax said. " _Finish that sentence."_

The stare-down continued. SixSix said nothing. Beneath her helmet, Tetrax grit her teeth.

" _Lotta people died, 'Six. Lotta gems died,"_ she said. She tightened her grip on his collar. " _If the Diamonds had won, the numbers would have been tripled. More. I don't care about your piss-poor attitude, but when you start to show sympathy for wiping out a whole species… Well. You know how we rebel gems deal with people like that."_

Kraab had turned to watch the scene go down, and now looked nervously to SixSix. He wasn't sure how he would take it. The sotoraggian was known for his violent outbursts and insurrection. However, it seemed, in that moment, without his additional arms, he felt weak enough to submit to Tetrax's command. For now, at least. He bowed his head, almost imperceptibly.

" _Of course,"_ he said, his voice entirely unreadable. " _My mistake."_

Tetrax wrinkled her lip beneath her helmet, and then shoved the purple warrior away from herself, turning and flying forward, taking point as the trio began to make pace, trying to compensate for the time they had lost.

None of them spoke again until the R.V. was in sight.

* * *

"What's with all the gadgets on the van?"

"I'll explain when we get there."

"Who were those guys?"

"I'll explain when we get there."

"Where are we going?"

"Mount Rushmore!"

It was over an hour of hard driving later. The two kids had recovered from the initial shock of alien contact, and were now grilling Max with questions. The tired old man kept an iron grip on the steering wheel, gritting his teeth and keeping his bloodshot eyes on the road. This was _not_ what he had expected when he had planned his vacation summer with his grandkids. Not at all. They had left a lot of their things in the motel, and they were all exhausted, afraid, and confused.

The scenery didn't help. They had entered the dry, barren badlands, which, while magnificent during the day, gave off an eerie, abandoned aura during the dead of night. Especially because they were the only ones on the road. Ben found himself glancing nervously at ever shadow and crevice, as if there might be a deadly alien or a masked man behind it.

The air above them, however, was rife with trouble.

_SHEEEER!_

Max recoiled as the road in front of him suddenly lit up in a bright, explosive flash. Swerving to avoid the chunk of pavement that was no longer there, he glanced down at the various strange dials and screens that had recently appeared on the dashboard. One of them, apparently some kind of radar, was pinging three shapes.

"Above us," Max said, mostly to himself, but loud enough for the kids to hear. "Brace yourselves!"

A barrage of lasers followed the first, as, from the night sky, the bounty hunter's suddenly appeared. They dropped out of the cloud layer, flying with their jet-packs, firing shot after shot at the R.V. The old rustbucket must have been made of harder stuff than it seemed, because while the inside rocked from side to side, the exterior held. The passengers didn't become piles of charred cinder. Max's driving became more and more erratic as the path before him was destroyed time and again. The bounty hunters were now aiming to knock the R.V. over, after seeing that it's hull was too dense to destroy.

Meanwhile, inside of the vehicle, Ben was frantically turning the dial on the watch. He needed something that could fight, but also something that could get in the air. If the enemies were coming from the sky, like Grandpa Max had said, Ben didn't want to put himself at disadvantage. He was deciding between two silhouettes: an insectoid with the wings of a dragonfly, and a strange spectral shadow that, despite being a silhouette, still bore a haunting, bloodshot eye. With a chill, Ben decided on the bug, slamming his hand down and closing his eyes.

With a flash, Ben was suddenly much taller. Too tall! _Thump!_ He bumped his head on the roof of the R.V., leaving a large, round dent. Glancing down at himself with a groan, Ben realized that he had once again transformed into something he had not meant to. This time, he bore four large, muscular, red arms, and was covered in a strange kind of follicle; somewhere between hair and whisker. His vision had improved drastically, granting Ben the ability to see nearly twice as well as he had been before, and in more directions at once. He had become the red behemoth. The alien he had _wanted_ to be earlier. Four-Arms.

"Ah, crap," came Ben's huge, deep voice. Gwen looked up, wide-eyed, and Max glanced once over his shoulder before snapping his attention back to the task at hand. Keeping them from flipping over. He flipped a couple of switches on the dashboard, and their ears were suddenly filled with loud, mechanical sounds.

From outside of the R.V., the bounty hunters saw two large, turret-like weapons pop out of the top of the vehicle, where a satellite dish had been. They immediately trained on the flying trio, and began to blast back.

_BLAM-BLAM-BLAM! BLAM-BLAM-BLAM!_

The heavy, repeating guns began to fire a lethal storm of projectiles, causing the aliens to scatter in different directions to avoid the bulk of the fire. Kraab took a couple of shots to his bulky shell, and one to his jetpack, causing him to falter in the air. The cannons locked onto him, and soon, he went crashing down, low enough for the cannons to re-train on the other two bounty hunters. They flew evasive maneuvers, and SixSix, with a well-aimed shot, managed to take out both cannons at once, disabling the guns and causing their aiming systems to falter.

In the cab of the R.V., Max swore under his breath. He looked frantically to the dashboard, pondering his next trick. He was running out of options. One button caught his eye… It gave him an idea.

"Ben!" Max called. "Grab that big gun you brought, and get on the roof!"

"What?" Gwen said, horrified.

" _What?"_ Ben said, with gleeful surprise.

"You heard me! Your quills should resist the blasters! You're a tetramand!"

Although he was again thrown off by the amount Max knew without letting on, Ben nodded, and stooped to retrieve the gun. What had once been a massive weapon in Ben's hand now was something more like a hand gun. In the cab, Max pressed the button, and an access hatch opened. Ben, as the hulking tetramand Four-Arms, just squeezed through.

As soon as he appeared, the bounty hunters began to take pot-shots at him. He threw up two arms to protect himself, while the other pulled him to his feet and the fourth and final arm clutched the heavy blaster weapon. To Ben's relief, Max's words held true, and the laser's did little to harm his newfound hide. Soon it was his turn to return fire, and he did so, blindly and rapidly, not even bothering to sight down the barrel, just blasting towards where he thought the bounty hunters would fly.

With the cannons destroyed, the purple hunter seemed to grow impatient, and turned to his partner before swooping down towards Ben. There was a beat, and then the grey armored hunter followed suit. Surprised, Ben took a step back, as the aliens came rocketing towards him at breakneck speed. Then, at the last second, they pulled up, landing with little bursts from their jetpacks. The purple hunter, SixSix, drew his two blades. The other drew an energy baton.

"C'mon, guys," Ben as Four-Arms tried to say, "You sure you wanna do this?"

SixSix ignored his calls for parlay, and lunged in with his blades, not even uttering a sound. The first slashed at Ben's neck, forcing him to throw up a meaty hand and catch the piercing strike in his palm. He winced, but to his surprise, it hurt more like a bee sting than a stab wound. The second dagger flew towards his chest, aiming at the glowing, green hourglass. This time, Ben didn't bother to defend, instead going for a direct counter attack. SixSix, who had just abandoned the first dagger to it's fate inside the tetramand's palm, caught a fist to the face. The fist was nearly a foot in diameter. Needless to say, the purple-clad alien stumbled back.

Ben glanced down at his arms, impressed. Plucking the small knife free, he flung it off the side of the R.V., and dropped the gun below into the cab of the vehicle. Then, kicking the entry hatch closed, he placed two fists into two palms, and grinned with huge, tombstone teeth at his opponents.

"Yeah, O.K.," Four-Arms said, "let's dance then."

With a battle cry, the female bounty hunter came charging in. Ben, expecting her to swipe with her baton, brought up his top arms in a defensive 'X'. However, his opponent was more wily than he gave her credit, and, spotting his block, dropped into a leg sweep. Knowing that just a kick from her light form wouldn't bring a titan like a tetramand down, she kicked on the stabilizing jet-thrusters in her boots, giving herself an extra boost. This gave her enough power to sweep the unsuspecting red alien's leg out from underneath him, and send him toppling to the roof of the R.V. with a resounding _clong!_

" _Oof!"_ Groaned Ben, as his jaw glanced the heavy metal. He went to push himself up, but instantly, SixSix leapt onto his back. By the time Ben was back on his feet, the bounty hunter had produced some strange device from his forearm, and, with a flick his wrist, produced a crackling electrical blade.

_zzzlaASH!_

While Ben was frantically reaching back to try and pull his assailant off, the alien brought the weapon wickedly across Ben's back. That, he felt. With a roar of pain, Ben was suddenly struck with an agonizing feeling. In a moment of rage at this sudden pain, he used a huge, brick hand to seize SixSix by the back of his uniform, and send him flying like a fast-ball out into the night sky. There was a roar of flame as the purple hunter activated his jetpack, and came flying back in, but Ben had bought himself a brief moment to recover.

OK, he thought, electricity was a no go.

As the alien-boy braced himself to parry the onslaught from his duo of assailants, there was a sudden, screeching noise. The mobile home beneath them suddenly skidded into a short drift, and then abruptly stopped on a dime. The momentum of this sudden pivot sent all three combatants flying over the side, and tumbling into the dusty earth.

Coughing and brushing white granite off of himself, Ben's hardy tetramand form was the first to recover. They had been flung a good distance, probably 20 meters ahead of the R.V. Ben put up two red fists in a fighting stance as he watched the two bounty hunters pull themselves up. SixSix was as unreadable and dangerous as ever, however the female bounty hunter's helmet had cracked, revealing a stormy grey eye and a cascade of black hair. With twin _zaap!-s_ the two of them extended their lightning blades.

"Don't make us do it, kid," the grey alien said, her voice coming through organically for the first time.

"Do what? What's the deal?" Ben said.

" _Don't play with your_ prey _!"_ The purple bounty hunter snarled, surging forward, slicing with his energy blade. Ben took measured steps back, watching, with his keen, four-eyed vision, for his opponents moves before backing up to avoid them. He didn't want to get hit with that lightning again.

"You're dealing with stuff that's way over your head," the grey alien continued. "Just give us the device. It's all we want."

"Tell that to your guy!" Ben said, as SixSix continued to press relentlessly.

"SixSix! Back off! We just need the device," she said sternly.

He paid her no heed.

" _I'm through playing games, Tetrax"_ he said, as he deftly landed a subtle stab to Ben's abdomen, causing the huge alien to lurch back, one arm clutching his gut. " _You'd rather coddle this dirt-pig than finish your mission. Fine. Just don't get in my way while I do mine."_

From the R.V., Max and Gwen watched, helplessly, as Ben continued to fight what looked like a losing battle. Max grimaced, looking around frantically at the displays on his dashboard. The bounty hunter's alien weaponry had did a number on the old rustbucket's machinery. All weapons were down, and the hull was in bad shape. Most of the auxiliary gadgets had been disabled to keep fuel running to the main engine. It was driving on fumes. At this rate, they would barely get to Rushmore, if nothing else happened to the R.V. before then.

"Kick his butt, Ben!" Gwen shouted, prompting Max to grab her instinctively, keeping her head down low. He didn't want them drawing any attention to themselves. Unlike Ben, they didn't have a suit of indestructible red alien. They were human. An old man and a little girl. They wouldn't stand a chance against these bounty hunters.

While he didn't shout, Max too rested his fate on Ben's shoulders.

Tetrax dashed in, trying to grab SixSix by the shoulder, but the taller, purple alien shoved her off with enough force to make her take a few steps back. She snarled, her one visible eye squinting, and, from the arm not holding the electrical blade, shot a length of coil around SixSix's ankles. There was a zipping sound as she pulled the chord taught, and it yanked the purple alien's legs together. He toppled like a tree.

"Enough!" Tetrax said, placing a heavy, grey-metal boot on his chest. She gave him a meaningful look, and even held the end of her blade pointed down at him, before turning to speak to the tetramand. "Just give us the wrist-com. Hand it over, and forget any of this ever happened. Finish your vacation, eat a snowcone, and do all those human things you love to do. It's that easy. Give us the device, and we leave."

Ben's gut sank.

In truth, he would have liked nothing more than to do exactly as she said. In that exact moment, after a harrowing night of freakish mutations and masked assailants, the superpower deal was suddenly not looking as good as it once had. He imagine how blissful it would be to just be free of this. To leave this strange, mind-bending ride in the summer. To let these aliens fly away with the only thing out-of-the-ordinary to ever happen to him, and to return to a simple life. A human life.

Unfortunately, he couldn't.

"It… It doesn't come off," he said.

There was a beat.

"What?" Tetrax said. SixSix lay eerily still on the ground.

Ben sighed.

"The watch. We tried everything. It… won't come off."

Tetrax's heart sank, this time. Suddenly, the situation had changed. Suddenly, she felt sick to her stomach.

Suddenly, SixSix sprang into action!

There was a snap-sizzle sound as the purple warrior finished slicing through the cable that had bound him, and rolled free of the heavy boot pressed on top of him. Rolling nimbly to his feet, he made a horrible, snarling, alien noise behind his mask. Then, he lunged for Tetrax, his wicked knife and energy blade working in deadly tandem. Tetrax dueled him for a moment, parrying his horribly fast attacks with blinding speed. Ben would have struggled to keep up with the battle of blades had he only two eyes.

It continued until, in a moment after SixSix had swung a particularly heavy sideswipe, Tetrax found her mark, delivering a swift slash to his shoulder and sending him spiraling away, sparks splashing off of the spot where she had struck him. He hung back for a moment, reaching down to check his vital organs. Noting that he was fine (she had grazed his armor) he was about to go back in for more, when a strange sound caught his attention. A low, droning noise.

The hourglass on Ben's right pectoral began to flash red.

"No! No, no, no!" He shouted, sounding surprisingly helpless and afraid for something his size.

Noting the sound, SixSix inferred correctly that it meant his transformations were on a time limit, and that he would soon return to human form. Acting on this, the bounty hunter side-stepped Tetrax, and went straight for Ben, slashing down with the wicked, metal blade. Ben threw up all four of his arms, just as there was a flash of green light.

_Fshaa!_

As Ben winced, he closed his eyes, waiting for the blade to run him through. Moments later, when no pain came, he winked one eye open. To his surprise, he saw that Tetrax had dashed forward and grabbed SixSix from behind in a headlock, and was dragging him back and away from the now helpless Ben. Glancing down at the low, red hourglass, the brown-haired boy's heart began to race with fear. He felt naked, in his frail, human form.

The battle between the two bounty hunters began to heat up, as, tearing himself free from Tetrax's grip, SixSix made another snarling noise. The two of them squared off.

" _Traitorous, slimy, bleeding-heart, shardling!"_ SixSix spat.

"He's a kid!" Tetrax retorted. "He didn't ask for this!"

" _Oh, and I imagine you feel some sort of sick kindred with the little monkey because_ you _didn't ask to be_ made _? Typical. You rogue gems are so emotional."_

The purple alien tapped a button on his wrist, and the energy that was being fed to his lightning blade changed from a neon blue to a crackling yellow, and Tetrax's visible eye widened. She recognized that sort of weapon. The fact that SixSix had one sickened her… And also pissed her off. Noting her mixed emotions, the satoraggian let out a low, tinny chuckle.

" _Don't look so upset,"_ he said. " _I've actually been looking forward to this."_

That set Tetrax over the edge, and the grey-skinned alien came charging forward with a cry of anger and anguish, swinging her energy blade at him. HIs taunt had worked, throwing her a bit off of her edge as she swung with rage, and he nearly landed a blow on her. The edge of the yellow blade narrowly missed her abdomen, and for a moment, Tetrax thought it was over. Then, there was a roaring noise as she activated her jetpack, pushing back and delivering an upwards kick to SixSix's jaw as she did so. This gave her some space to maneuver, as he regained his balance.

Growling, SixSix began to assess the situation. He looked from Tetrax, who stood stoic and fierce, to Ben, who, apparently, was frozen with fear, as he had not yet run for the safety of the armored vehicle. The choice became easy. He knew that if he went for the human, Tetrax would try to protect him. That, most likely, would put her at a disadvantage, as she tried to defend herself and the boy.

Grinning beneath the mask, SixSix once again began to snake towards Ben. The boy's eyes widened at his approach, and Tetrax, grimacing, rocketed after him. She wasn't fast enough. The purple alien pounced, with preternatural speed, on top of his prey, bringing the weak, pre-pubescent boy to the ground. Looming over Ben, SixSix held him down with one hand, and produced his second knife with the other.

Then, there was a horrible, slick, sliding noise, as the bottom half of the alien's mask opened up. There, to Ben's utter, was a gaping maw of awful teeth, arranged in a round formation, like the sucker of an octopus. From somewhere inside of the terrible mouth was a long, fleshy appendage, and it came out to wipe the edges of the teeth. An awful, oozing saliva began to drip, hot, on Ben's chest. He screamed, at the top of his lungs, struggling to no avail to free himself. SixSix reared back, overtaken now with his hunger, and prepared to lunge down with his fangs and-!

_Sheer! Sheeeeer!_

The purple alien froze, suddenly, gross, grunting noises coming from its mouth. Ben noticed two smoking laser wounds in the center of its chest plate. Scrambling back frantically, the boy got out from underneath the alien, and stood, wiping the goo off of his shirt. He grimaced as it stuck to his palm. Then, with a thump, the bounty hunter slumped to the ground, dead.

Tension hung in the air. The night was suddenly eerie and quiet, save for the running engine of the R.V., and Ben's heavy breathing. He looked down at the mangled corpse of the bounty hunter, and then over to Tetrax. She stood, pistol in hand, still aimed at the spot where she had taken the shot. Her visible eye was full of sadness. With a sigh, she holstered the weapon, and locked eyes with Ben. He waited fearfully for her to say something. To seize him, and take him away to some awful, secret, alien spaceship.

Instead, she sighed, and took off her helmet. Her face, it turned out, was vaguely humanoid, and pretty, in a rugged way. She bore a large, black gemstone, embedded in her forehead, and had ash-grey skin. Ben ogled her for a moment, and then quickly clamped his mouth shut. She tucked her helmet under her arm and looked at the boy, shaking her head as if she couldn't believe what she was doing.

"What's your name?" She said.

Ben blinked.

"Oh- Uh, B-Ben," he said, once he realized she was actually asking him.

"Well, Ben, my name is Tetrax Shard," the gem said. She sighed again, looking up at the stars, which were clear and visible here. A rare sight. "This is going to sound weird coming from me, right now, but I once fought in a war to keep the life on this planet from being wiped out."

"You… you did?"

Tetrax kind of laughed, her eyes still on the night sky.

"Yeah," she said. "I know. Doesn't make sense, right? What am I doing here, now?"

There was silence again. Ben didn't know what to say. What do you say, to an alien bounty hunter from outer space that, like, 2 minutes ago, was trying to kidnap you? Eventually, Tetrax looked down, and brought her gaze level with Ben.

"Watch your back, Ben," she said, donning her helmet once more. "Stay vigilant. You've got a target on your back, and the moment you let up…"

She activated her jet-pack, and flew a few meters into the air, before turning to look down at him.

"Someone like me won't always be around," she said.

With that, she began to soar into the night sky. Moments later, she was joined by a second flying light as Kraab, apparently recovered, met up with her. Ben stood there, watching them go, mouth agape, until they had vanished completely into the night sky. He was only snapped out of it by the sound of Max's voice.

"Ben!"

The old man came over, grabbing the boy by the shoulders, and checked him for injuries. Then, he was pulled into another tight, bear hug. Once released, Ben was surprised to find another pair of smaller arms flinging themselves around him. However, he returned the hug with Gwen; only briefly, and then they separated awkwardly and without eye contact. There were no words, the three of them just sat there. Glad to be in each other's company. Glad that it was over.

Then, a howl lit up the badlands.

Glancing around, the trio began to see glowing red eyes everywhere. They popped up in every shadow, crevice, and cranny that dotted the area. There was the sound of scrabbling stone, snarling, snuffling, and general movement, as the eyes began to grow closer, and closer. As they grew closer to the headlights of the R.V., one of them became visible.

It was a horrible, dog-like creature, with leathery skin, long ears, and a ridge of black spines running down its back. Max's eyes widened.

"Chupacabra…" Gwen whispered.

Wisely, Max quickly ushered the kids into the R.V., and began to drive away quickly, tires squealing. Luckily for them, the monsters didn't seem interested in them. As they drove away, Gwen stuck her head out the window, eyes glued to the things she had deemed chupacabra. They were quickly growing smaller, but as Gwen watched, they moved in, and began to hungrily devour what was left of the dead alien.


	11. Chapter 10

**Author's Note:** _Hey again! Welcome to the final chapter of Ben 10: Origins. Be sure to stick around for the Epilogue and Post-Credits scenes! They'll give you a look at what comes next for Danger Watch. Enjoy!_

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**Chapter 10**

By noon the next day, the rustbucket had managed to hobble and roll its way to the rendezvous that Max's friend Phil had set for them. The old man was on high alert as he slowly brought the behemoth of a machine to a halt, in a grove of trees near the Rushmore site. A warm breeze blew through the open window, and Max sighed as he put the R.V. in park. He glanced at the gas gauge. Empty.

"You know, it was originally called Six Grandfathers, before the colonizers came and carved the dollar bill guy into it," came Gwen's voice.

Max checked the rear-view mirror. Until now, he had let the kid's sleep. The events of the previous day had been exhausting for them, he knew, and he would let them rest as much as they needed. Gwen, of course, was the early riser of the two, and was now curiously taking in her surroundings. Max gave her a tired smile.

"Well, look who's up," he said. "We made it."

"I figured," she said, causing Max to quirk an eyebrow and then laugh good-naturedly.

"I bet you did," he said.

"Shut up, Gwen…" Ben muttered, still half-asleep in a reclined seat.

"Ben, we're here," Max said.

Ben groaned, pulling his blanket up to cover his face, and curled up into an even tighter ball. The green glow of the watch shone through the fabric. Max shook his head ruefully, and decided to try a different tactic.

"Your watch is green," he said.

There was a singular second of pause, and then Ben pulled the blanket away from his face, revealing his intense bed head and puffy eyes. He yawned, stretched, and then sat up, looking down at the watch, which promptly beeped and popped out it's dial. He began to fiddle with the controls as Gwen and Grandpa Max shared a knowing look.

Then, a sleek, black, sedan suddenly rolled into view, driving up along side Max. They were the only two parked in this little grove of trees, and looking down at the car, Max suddenly got a little giddy. With speed in spite of his age, he got out of the R.V., and went to greet the driver of the car with a sturdy handshake.

"Billings!"

"Tennyson!"

Phil Billings was a shorter, wiry man with graying brown hair and a face full of creases. He wore a white suit, a blue tie, and a fancy watch, and he was beaming at Max. The two old men gave each other a quick hug, and then pulled back to size each other up.

"God, how long has it been?" Max said.

" _Thirty years,"_ Phil said. They both shook their head in disbelief. "Time flies."

"You're tellin' me, pal," Max said, jerking a thumb at the R.V. "I've got my _grandkids_ on board."

"Woah," Phil said, as if hit with a small wave of vertigo. "Grandkids? Man, we're old."

They both laughed at that, and clapped each other on the shoulder. Then, all too suddenly, they both became somber, and it was all business.

"The base isn't far from here," Phil said. "Nora insisted that we keep it out of the way, even though we _could_ have put it _directly_ behind Roosevelt's-"

"Wait, Nora is here?" Max cut him off a little too eagerly. Phil grinned.

"Oh, yeah," he said, "that's right. You two were-"

"We weren't anything," Max said, stopping him there, trying to seem neutral. He knew that sly look that Phil got when it came to Max and Nora Wakeman. It always meant trouble. "Even if we had been, that was a long time ago."

"Thirty _years,_ " Phil reiterated. "That's a long time to hold it in, pal. Are you sure you don't just wanna-?"

"Enough, Billings, I'm not in a joking mood. We had a helluva night. How do we get to the base?"

Phil shrugged.

"Like I said, its not far. I'll take you, just follow me."

Phil went to get back into his car, but Max caught him by the shoulder as he went, with a thankful smile.

"Thanks, again, Phil," he said. Phil shot him an easy smile in return.

"Hey, don't sweat it," he said. "Wait till you see what Wakeman's got cooking up in the lab. You're gonna like it."

With that, they both got back into their vehicles, and Phil led the way down a discreet dirt road, which winded down into an out-of-the-way valley. Nestled in that valley was a large complex, complete with S.U.V.'s, 5-point tents, and a main building that was stylish, modern, and bore an enormous 'H' on the front. They parked close to the entrance, and Phil waited for them at the door of the building. As Max approached, Phil got his first glance at the kids, and shook his head.

"You're kidding me," he said. "They're huge!"

"What is this place?" Ben said, looking around in awe. "Some kinda secret military base?"

"Not quite," Phil said, taking note of the strange device latched onto the boy's wrist. His gaze lingered on it for a few, long moments, before he shook his head. "Alright, well, c'mon. I'll show you the inside, and then we'll see what Wakeman has to say about that fancy bracelet of yours."

He swiped a keycard at the door, and, with a buzz, it unlocked. Phil held it open for the little entourage to enter, and then quickly followed and took up the lead. The man bulk of the interior was like a large warehouse, with a grate-metal second tier build around the edges of the walls. Across the main floor there were dozens of people, all of them clad in white uniforms. The uniforms varied, some of them seemed paramilitary, others, clearly scientists. Still others seemed to just be clerical, secretaries or assistants or the like.

Gwen and Ben stared, wide-eyed, at all of the strange technology that was on display. Workers carted around huge, energy producing engines, wheelbarrows of scrap metal, among other fantastical technology. The most impressive were the strange gauntlets that several of the men and women in white wore. As Ben watched, one such person used the gauntlet to produce, fully, a forklift, after a few moments of consistently firing what looked like computer data out of the wrist-mounted cannon.

Phil led them past the main floor, to a secluded doorway. The door bore a metal nameplate, that read: **DOCTOR WAKEMAN.** Phil stopped, smiling back at the little party, before knocking at the door.

"Hey, Wakeman," he said. "Got a surprise for you."

There was the sound of a chair scraping, and then a few pairs of footsteps, before an older woman's voice responded.

"It's not a surprise when I saw you coming. I've been watching you since you tripped the perimeter. Unlike you, I actually run a tight ship around here."

The door opened, and there stood a short woman with cropped white hair. She wore a long, yellow coat, and had a pair of reflective goggles mounted on her forehead. She looked between the group of visitors with crows-footed eyes. Gwen she disregarded, Ben she lingered on due to the strange watch, but her gaze finally rested on Max. She crossed her arms upon looking at his face, and a wry smile split across her visage.

"Hey, Max," she said.

"Hey, Nora," Max said.

Gwen and Ben exchanged looks that said: gross.

"So, this is what it takes to get you to call, huh?" Wakeman said, wasting no time as she strode forward and seized Ben by the arm, causing him to start. She pulled down her goggles and began to inspect the watch. "Hmm…"

Then, there was the sound of loud, mechanical footsteps, as the door to Wakeman's office was closed.

"Wah!" Ben shouted, yanking his arm away from Wakeman as he caught sight of what had just appeared.

Standing in front of the doorway was a 6 foot tall robot. She looked like she had been crafted to resemble some kind of humanoid, with eyes, a mouth, legs, and so on. She was, however, made out of a shining white metal, with blue and silver highlights. She looked at Ben with a strangely human curiosity, and it set him on edge. He immediately went to put his hand on the watch, but Max put a steadying hand on his shoulder. Ben glanced up, confused, but Max gave him a level stare, which calmed the boy down.

"Uh, sorry," the robot said, her voice coming out like that of a teenage girl. It, like the rest of her, was jarringly human. She glanced to Wakeman, and then to Ben. "Did I startle you?"

"XJ-9, at ease," Wakeman said, snorting at Ben's antics. The boy went a little pink in the face as he realized he was the only one startled. However, he gave himself some slack, as he had just been attacked. Several times. By aliens. Wakeman, seeing this, decided to give him some reassuring words. "Relax. We're all on the same side here. In fact… I'm pretty sure I have an idea as to who has been after that watch of yours."


	12. Epilogue and Post-Credits Scenes

**Author's Note:** _I went ahead and uploaded early for the AO3 readers! Enjoy!_

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**Epilogue**

From their vantage point at the high point of the valley, Miko and Five watched the movements going on around the base. People wearing similar uniforms to them, Hinobi Tech agents, were running back and forth, apparently preparing for something. As the two agents watched, they digistructed vehicles, gear, and other objects that would be of use in the base. As the wind blew gently through her hair, Miko turned to her partner, who kept his gaze on the valley.

"You ready?" She asked.

In the time since their encounter with the Red Eye, the two of them had been appointed to Wakeman's project. It was a private project, funded by Hinobi but strictly off-book. As Glitch Techs, the two of them weren't privy to much of the sensitive information, but they didn't mind all that much. They were mostly here to keep an eye on Jenny, the android that they had befriended nearly a year ago.

It was her that Five was watching, now. A few hours ago a beat-up looking mobile home had rolled onto the base, escorted by Phil, and out had popped some old man and his grandkids.

According to Phil, the kid had encountered some kind of strange alien artifact, and Wakeman was going to be running some tests on it. At the moment, Jenny, the kid (named Ben) and his cousin, Gwen, were all hanging out together outside. Jenny had been showing them a few of the things that she could do, such as flying and producing gadgets. Ben, eager to impress, had tried to transform into a cool alien. He had instead assumed the form of a rather pungent, strange, insectoid monster. He was lucky that Jenny had no sense of smell, but she was still somewhat off-put by the transformation.

"Five."

"Hm?"

Miko laughed.

"I said, are you ready?" She said, nudging him with her shoulder. The young man shook his head, running a hand through his thick head of hair.

"No," he said. Then, he turned to look at Miko. "You?"

"What, for an alien invasion?" Sure," she said, waving a hand as if it were no big deal. "What's the worst that could happen?"

**End of Book 4**

* * *

**Post Credits Scene 1**

Somewhere in a darkened chamber, lit only by a dull, glowing fountain, the straggling Forever Knights were licking their wounds, recovering from their defeat. The rank and file doffed their chrome armor, and were lounging around the pool of murky pink water, cleaning their wounds in it. Miraculously, as the water touched their cuts, bruises and burns, they seemed to lessen, and the smaller scrapes healed entirely. None of them seemed surprised by this. What did bother them, however, was the continued screaming from further in the chamber. As the pained, distorted yowling rose in pitch once more, the soldiers all avoided eye contact.

With a spent groan, the source of the screaming, a dark-haired boy, hanging by a length of chain, fell silent. He hung there, limp, sweating, and agonized, eyes heavy and bloodshot, muscles trembling with rage. Rage aimed at the man who stood before him. The boy snarled as the man stepped into view again, that fanged, red mask taking up his vision.

"I will ask again," the masked man said, brandishing a horrible implement that sparked with some faint, pain-inducing energy. "What do you know about the device?"

Kevin panted for a moment, before working up the strength to spit on the man's mask. A gloved hand came up, silently, to wipe the saliva from the mask, and then, in the same movement, delivered a heavy, backhanded slap to Kevin's face. Despite the pain that sent his jaw numb, Kevin actually sneered, a defiant, stubborn smile.

"Go to hell," he said. The red warrior snarled, and went to strike him again, but was cut off by a deep, emanating voice from the other side of the chamber.

" _A stubborn one… is he not?"_

The red armored warrior immediately dropped into a kneel as the newcomer approached. Like the rest of the knights, he was clad in heavy, alien, chrome armor. However, his gear was far more ornate and illustrious than the others, and he also bore a long, black cape, and some kind of scepter. As he approached, he regarded Kevin and the red knight from behind his visored helmet, radiating an aura of power. It was clear, by the respect be bore from the others, that this man was the leader.

"Lord Driscoll," the red knight began to say.

" _Silence,"_ the man, Driscoll, said casually. " _You encountered a powerful alien artifact, a heaping pile of plumber gear, and three whole alien specimens… And yet, you have failed to bring me any of them. Consider yourself lucky that you do not stand where he does."_

"Please, my King. I will not fail you again. I swear it."

Driscoll remained there for a moment longer, leering unreadably at his lieutenant.

" _See that you do not_."

* * *

**Subnote:** _There you have it! Ben has met up with some familiar faces, and the pieces are falling into place. Don't worry, I still have one last teaser for you, like always. If you're hype for the future of Danger Watch, let me know in the comments! Oh, and don't worry:_

**Ben 10...**

**Will Return.**

* * *

**Post Credits Scene 2**

The Rubies sat in silence as they guarded the entry to the chamber that Vilgax had been wheeled into. None of them had been told what he was doing in there, but they were given orders to not allow any entry. So, as they heard the approaching bootsteps, they tensed up. Then, when they saw the familiar forms of Tetrax and Kraab, they shifted uncomfortably. The leader, who wore a yellow visor, stepped forward, holding up a hand to stop the two battered bounty hunters from coming any further.

"Stop," she said. "No entry."

"What?" Tetrax said, her lip curled as she regarded the little red gem. "Out of the way."

"But-"

A low, grumbling, chittering sound came out of Kraab, and it was intimidating enough for the entire Ruby squadron to fall silent, and, following the lead of their commander, step to the side to allow the bounty hunter's passage. The door hissed open as Tetrax strode forward, and she was surprised at what she saw.

She was not expecting to see the hulking alien floating in a healing tube, much less that he would be surrounded by what was apparently a hologram of some beach on the planet below. Silent waves crashed upon a simulated shore, and gulls flew by without squawking. This would have been odd on its own, however, the strangest part was what Vilgax was looking at.

A small group of people were standing on the beach. One of them appeared human. The others were humanoid, but their skin tones were pastel, and their clothing seemed to shimmer in and out of their bodies, like it was a part of them. The dead ringer was the precious stones embedded in their various body parts.

Gems.

The image quickly dissolved as a hulking, orange drone touched a large, floating orb that dominated the center of the chamber, which became barren as soon as the orb was adjusted. Tetrax crossed her arms as she took note of the small group of the drones it took to wheel Vilgax into a position where he was facing her. A barrage of bubbles stormed out of the breathing apparatus attached to the floating alien's face.

**SO… YOU HAVE FAILED.**

The words pounded their way into Tetrax's head, and she winced.

"He was… too strong," she lied. "We lost one of our own. Our debt is paid."

Pure rage began to pour itself into her mind, and she had to shore up her willpower to resist being overpowered by the wave of psionics from Vilgax. She grit her teeth.

"Better luck next time… You greedy squid."

With that, she and Kraab departed, leaving a seething Vilgax to take his wrath out on the Rubies, who stood anxiously in the hall outside. He raged, silently, sending out wave after wave of hateful resentment. It was enough to bring the Rubies to their knees, sickened. Eventually, his tantrum subsided, and a single, tangible thought formed in the gem's minds.

**FINE. I'LL DO IT MYSELF.**

**Next Time: Phase 1, Book 5**

**Steven Universe 2**


End file.
